John Henry Patterson
John Henry Patterson , DSO (born November 10, 1867 in Forgney, Ireland , † June 18, 1947 in Bel Air , California , USA ) was a British soldier , engineer , hunter , author and Zionist activist. He became known through his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo , which describes in detail his experiences while building a railway line in Kenya .
biography
Youth and advancement
John Henry Patterson joined the British Army at the age of 17, was stationed in India , among other places , and rose quickly to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1898 he was hired by the British East Africa Company to oversee the construction of a railway bridge over the Tsavo River and arrived in Africa in March of that year.
The cannibals of Tsavo
Shortly after his arrival, two lions began to attack the workers; the animals pulled their victims out of the tents at night and dragged them away. Despite barricades of thorn barriers (bomas) around the camp, night fires and strict curfew, the attacks increased so much that the bridge construction finally came to a standstill because of the fear of the workers.
In addition to the obvious financial consequences of the work stoppage, Patterson's authority was also challenged by the superstitious and increasingly hostile workers. The workers believed that the lions were evil spirits and had come to punish those who were building the bridge on the Tsavo and that Patterson was the cause of the accident because the attacks had started with his arrival.
The man-eating behavior was considered highly unusual for lions. For most of the rumored 135 deaths there are no records, the railway records officially assign only 28 deaths to the lion attacks; however, it is also reported that significant numbers of locals were killed for whom no precise record was made. Today, after analyzing the bone material of the two lions, researchers assume around 35 victims. While various theories have been put forward to explain the behavior of the lions (poor dental health, lack of natural prey, etc.), it is also now suggested that it may have been mainly due to the lack of burial practices for dead workers in Tsavo: a considerable number Workers died from illness or injuries, and there was also a slave route that ran through the area. Colonel Patterson, for example, has been reported that body parts remained unburied or that graves were not dug properly. It has been suggested that the lions adapted to this readily available supply and eventually saw humans as their primary source of food. More recent studies came to the conclusion that the animals' teeth were sick and severely damaged. It can therefore be assumed that they hunted people because they could no longer cut up their natural prey because of the tougher flesh.
With experience as a tiger hunter, the Patterson during his military deployment in India had acquired, he rose to the threatening situation. After countless attempts to hunt down the lions, he finally killed the first of them on the night of December 9-10, 1898 and the second on the morning of December 29th. The lions came from a maneless subspecies that lived in the Tsava region; both specimens were exceptionally large. Each lion was over three feet long from nose to tail, and it took eight men to drag them to camp. In 1924 Patterson sold the two stuffed animals to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago for $ 5,000 .
After the lions were shot down, workers and locals celebrated Patterson as a hero, and the news spread quickly. Proof of this are received congratulatory telegrams that he received. The event was even mentioned in the House of Lords of the British Parliament by Prime Minister Lord Salisbury . With the ogre threat finally removed, the workforce returned, and the Tsavo Railway Bridge was completed in February 1899, where it still stands today. The workers who had previously threatened and even wanted to kill him honored Patterson with a silver bowl in recognition of the dangers he had taken on himself. Their inscription read:
"Dear Sir,
We, your overseers, timekeepers, hunters and workers, honor you with this bowl as a token of our gratitude for your bravery in killing the two man-eating lions despite the great danger to your own life that you have saved us from devouring these terrible monsters who would break into our tents every evening and take our companions from our side. If we honor you with this bowl, we will all insert you into our prayers and wish you a long life, happiness and prosperity. We remain at all, sir, your grateful servants,
Baboo
Purshotam Hurjee Purmar,
Overseer and secretary, on behalf of your workers.
Dated at Tsavo, January 30, 1899. "
Patterson later said that when he looked at the bowl, he realized that it was the hardest trophy to win in his life. In 1907 he published his first book, The Man Eaters of Tsavo , which documented his adventures during his time there. This book was also the basis for four films; Bwana Devil (1953), Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959), The Mind and Darkness (1996) starring Val Kilmer (as Patterson) and Michael Douglas and Prey (2007).
Next life
From 1907 to 1909 Patterson was chief overseer in the East Africa Protectorate, an experience he recounts in his second book Im Griff von Nyika (1909). During a hunting safari with Corporal Audley Blythe, the latter was killed by a gunshot wound due to unexplained circumstances. Witnesses confirmed that when the gunshot was fired, Patterson was not in Blythes 'tent, but with Blythes' wife, who - it was reported - ran screaming to her husband's tent. It has been suggested that Patterson and Mrs. Blythe were having an affair and that Blythe shot himself as a result. Patterson had Blythe buried in the wilderness and then, to everyone's surprise, continued the expedition without reporting the accident to the nearest service post as usual. Shortly thereafter, Patterson returned to England with Mrs. Blythe. Although he was never charged with the death of Blythe, rumors remained that he killed Blythe.
Subsequently, Patterson fought in the Boer War and World War I. Although he was a Protestant himself, he became a major figure in Zionism as the commander of the Zion Mule Corps and the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers ( Jewish Legion of the British Army ) which became a basis of later history in the history of the Jewish armed forces in Palestine Israel Defense Forces was. Patterson was promoted to colonel in 1917 and retired from the British Army in 1920 after 35 years of military service. His last two books on the Zionists at Gallipoli (1916) and the Jews in Palestine (1922) are based on his experiences during this time ( Battle of Gallipoli ). After his military career, Patterson continued his support for the Zionists as an advocate for a Jewish state in the Middle East. One year after his death, on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was founded.
After speaking with the museum in Chicago , Illinois in 1924 , Patterson agreed to sell the Tsavo lion skins and skulls to the museum for the then sizable sum of $ 5,000. The lions were then dissected and are now on permanent display with their original skulls. The lion reproductions are smaller than they were originally because the Pattersons had used the skins as blankets for 26 years. Due to the relatively poor condition of the skins, the original size of the animals could no longer be restored.
Patterson and his wife Francis (Francie) Helena lived in a modest house in La Jolla, California for several years. When his wife needed medical attention and his own health deteriorated, he and his wife moved to Marion Travis' estate in Bel Air, California. He died in his sleep in 1947 at the age of 79; his wife died six weeks later in a San Diego nursing home.
In 1906 the British naturalist Richard Lydekker named the subspecies Taurotragus oryx pattersonianus of the eland after John Henry Patterson.
bibliography
- The Man-eaters of Tsavo (1907)
- In the Grip of Nyika (1909)
- With the Zionists at Gallipoli (1916)
- With the Judeans in Palestine (1922)
Web links
- Literature by and about John Henry Patterson in the catalog of the German National Library
- Images and overview of John Henry Patterson on the Field Museum page, Chicago, Illinois
- The Man-Eaters of Tsavo at Wikisource (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Löwenduo killed fewer people than expected Der Spiegel from November 3, 2009
- ↑ a b "People are two-legged sources of protein" Der Spiegel from January 17, 2003
- ↑ Bo Beolens, Michael Grayson, Michael Watkins: The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009; P. 309; ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Patterson, John Henry |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British soldier, engineer, hunter, author and an avowed Zionist activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 10, 1867 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Forgney, Ireland |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 18, 1947 |
| Place of death | Bel Air , California, USA |