just finished reading the man-eaters section of Col. John Patterson's book. For those of you that don't know, Patterson was a railway engineer tasked with building a rail line and bridge in Africa in 1898. He had around 5000 African and Indian workers at his disposal. Somehow, two local lions developed a taste for human flesh, and ended up eating well over a hundred railway workers.
Basically what the lions would do is roam to various camps of the workers each night, jump over the thorn fence that surrounded it, and eat either one or two workers per night. The lions got so brazen as to eat the victims a mere 30 yards outside the camp. It was far too dark, and too dangerous to venture outside of the camps to try to kill the lions in the middle of the night. No flashlights in those days I'm afraid.
I found it strange that neither native african technology, nor (for a while) modern technology would stop the lions. Massive thorn bush fences, bomas, didn't stop the lions. They would jump over, and drag their victims through them. Col. Pattersons .303 rifle wouldn't penetrate very far into the lions' bodies, a fact he didn't find out until a wounded lion began charging him. He shot one lion at less than twelve feet with both barrels of his shotgun, and the lion still continued to eat the workers.
Finally though, the lions were killed. Each one was nearly ten feet long, and did not have a mane. Originally thought to be a sign of poor fitness, maneless lions are now known to suffer hair loss due to very high testosterone levels, which can also account for their aggressiveness. The partial remains, which have been converted from rugs to full taxidermy mounts, can be seen at the Chicago Field Museum. Unfortunately they are not full size.
I'm almost as impressed with Col. Patterson as I am with the story of man-eating lions. Patterson was able to handle all different types of situations with a calm demeanor, even though he was nearly killed by lions, railcart accidents, and worker rebellions. Though it strikes me as kind of strange that he keeps referring to the 'amusing incidents' where lions either tried to eat, or lightly mauled people. Maybe thats just the wording of the early 20th century. He repeatedly mentioned being able to hear the lions break and crack the bones of their victims as they ate them outside the camps. And also of finding the bodies licked clean of their skin. Apparently the lions liked to drink human blood too.
Check out the book if you get a chance. The first few paragraphs start a bit slow, but it gets into the action very quickly.
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