In March of 1898, the British East Africa Company led by engineer Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson began building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Uganda. During the construction period, many railway workers were killed by two maneless male lions who dragged men from their tents at night.
The workers built bomas (thorn fences) around the camp to keep the lions out; however, the lions were able to crawl through. Patterson set traps, and tried several times to ambush the lions at night from a tree. He finally killed the first lion on December 9 1898, and the second three weeks later. The lions had killed nearly 140 workers.
After 26 years as Patterson's floor rugs, the lions' skins were given to the Chicago Field Museum for a sum of $5,000 US.
Pattersons accounts were published in his book, The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and later dramatized in the movies Bwana Devil and The Ghost and the Darkness.
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