NIGHT OF HORROR

Otago Witness, Issue 3330, 9 January 1918, Page 24

NIGHT OF HORROR

TIGER CAUSES SENSATION. There is a tiger story that has, as far as I know, never yet been published, the incidents of which are so unique, and .the action so marvellous, that it beggars fiction into a fairy • tale (says a correspondent of The Caloutta Englishman.}. A certain Mr and Mrs P., with a little.girl of three, were en route to Calcutta. To reach the station (I am speaking of Assam), they had to drive 35 miles. The district was Nowgong. The train they had to catch was due "to leave the station at about 1 in the morning. On their'road a tiger had taken up his beat, and was so troublesome that praotically all traffic was stopped after sunset and before sunrise. The animal had taken approximately 15 bullocks out of passing carts, and it was a certainty that any single cart could not pass; in fact, none attempted it. Mr and Mrs F. had tp pass this patrolled portion of the road between the Kotiatuli P.O. and the station of Chaparmukh. The tiger beat was oluefiy on a three miles stretch on the near side of a river thai was bridged, and once across the bridge travellers were supposed to be free from further molestation. _ Mr and Mrs P. dined at a garden about nine miles from the station, moving off after dinner; tha"t is to say, about half-past 10, on their way to the station, and with farewell cries of "Good Luck" and "Hope you won't seethe tiger.'' off they went. Mr and Mrs P. had sat m front, Mr F. driving. Mrs F. had their child in her lap and an ayah and a syce were sitting behind, in an American four-wheeler. It was night time and very dark at that, but there were two good lamps on tho dash-board that lit up the horse and harness most brilliantly, and the road ahead, and also the sides of it. These' lights had side-panes, which showed up the drain and the banks on each side. . The miles passed, and the party reached the river, and as they crossed the bridge Mr F. said to his wife. " That -is all right, my dear. You need not be frightened any more." Just as ho spoke his wife exclaimed: "What's that?" And in the light of the sidepanes of the lamps they saw a huge tiger galloping alongside of tho trap.

It was on a level with the top of the wheels. As they sat looking, mute with awe, they saw the tiger move on into the light of the lamps at the pony's head, and they next saw its great paws .above the pony's and the pony's head jerked tip into the air. In a moment the pony fell stone dead, without a movement. The tiger had attacked on the driving side, and jt deliberately took hold of the pony Just in front of the withers, and began to drag pony and trap with all the five occupants across the road. It dragged on steadily till it reached the edge of tho road, and then it commenced to drag its heavy load into the jungle, and that' apparently without much effort. Probably it could not see the occupants of the trap as the lights blinded jt to a certain extent. The trap had not been dragged far off tho road when the axle caught on tho stump of a tree, and tho grim procession came to a stop. Then Mr F. seemed to regain his presence of mind. He got out of the trap and said to his wife: " Grive me the child." Even at that critical moment th© motherly instinct was uppermost, and Mrs F. replied: " Be careful, she s asleep," and then stepped down after her husband. They roused the ayah, who was half asleep, and the syce, and these two, strange to say, did not for the moment seem to realiso what had happened. The whole incident had occurred so quickly. There had been no outcry, and even the talk had been in whispers. The whole of tho party got clear of the trap and started running up tho road. The syce said that he knew of an empty house quite close, and to this they went. It was autumn, and the night was cold, but a fire was lighted, and sleeping and sitting and dosing the long hours slowly passed. At the first streak of dawn tho weary mother and father were wakened by the rattle of bullock carts on the' road, and when these approached Mr F. stopped the drivers and detailed what had happened. With one or two of tho men he went to the scene of tho night's doings and there found that tho head of the pony had been oaten aiw. Messengers were sent back to the garden where Mr and Mrs P. had dined to tell of the adventure. The harness was eventually removed from the dead body of the pony, and, strangely enough, the headstall, was lying intact on the ground, though how the beast had managed to drag tho head away was a mystery. The body of the pony, was poisoned, and Mr and Mrs P., with some other people who arrived, went away to get elephants to scour the country for the tiger. When tho hunters returned they diecovered that the marauder had made a meal off the body, but though the search

was continued for three days he was not found. < Some weeks later the carcase of a largo tiger was discovered at tho edge of a pool to which it had evidently gone to quenoh , the thirst arising from the poison and where it had at last met its end.