Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1859 — A Javan Criminal versus a Royal Tiger. [ARTICLE]

A Javan Criminal versus a Royal Tiger.

A Javan criminal was condemned by the Sultan to fight a large royal tiger, whose ferocity was raised to the highest point by want of food and artificial irritation. The only weapon allowed to the human combatant was a dagger with the point broken off. After wrapping a cloth round his left fist and arm the man entered the arena with an air Of undaunted coolness, and fixed a steady, menacing gaze upon the brute. The tiger sprung ferociously upon his intended victim, who, with extraordinary boldness and rapidity, thrust his left fist into the gaping jaws, and at the same moment, with his keen though pointless dagger, ripped up the boast to the very heart. In less than a minute the tiger lay dead at the conqueror’s feet. The criminal was not only forgiven, but ennobled by his sovereign, r