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Name: SCHINDELAAR, Fritz

image of individualimage of individualimage of individual

Nee: sometimes Schindler

Birth Date: 1871

Death Date: 26.1.1914 Nairobi, of wounds inflicted by a lion

First Date: 1903

Last Date: 1914

Profession: Big-game hunter and explorer

Area: Nairobi, Naivasha

Book Reference: Gillett, SE, Best, Ker, Kill, Binks, Rundgren, Percival, White Man, Hut, North, Into Africa, Gazette, Nicholls, Barnes, Leader14, Chandler

General Information:

North has Schindler
SE - Fritz Schindlar [sic] - Aug 1907
Best - a good looking womaniser with a past no one spoke about, could often be found sitting at the Norfolk's gambling table with several hundred gold sovereigns in front of him.
Ker - After Alan Black, who was believed to be the first hunter to operate professionally in Kenya, Schindler followed shortly after Black's trail but was killed by a lion whilst hunting with Paul Rainey.    
Kill - Fritz Scindelaar, another old friend of mine, was killed some years later in much the same way as Lucas. .. He was one of the most daring hunters in Africa and, until that day, had always seemed to bear a charmed life. Fitz was an Austrian and arrived in Kenya soon after I got to Nairobi [1904]. He was one of the most likeable men you could meet, and I do not think he had an enemy throughout the length and breadth of EA. That says a very great deal, for it is a region where tempers are short and easily frayed, too easily for the maintenance of the peace. He was buried in Nairobi cemetery.  
Binks - calls him 'Carl' - 'Carl - I almost said lovable Carl, for he endeared himself to everyone with whom he came in contact. I believe he was an Austrian, and had served his time in a cavalry regiment. He was a superb horseman, and it was a delight to watch him prancing along Govt. Rd., waving his stetson to everybody. Debonair would describe him ........ he was certainly a menace to the hearts of the dozen or so ladies who were about the town. ...... Hunting lions with Rainey a lion knocked him off his horse .... 'turned and seizing him in its capacious mouth tossed him into the air; as he hit the ground he was seized and thrown a second time ....... Rainey shot the lion ........ Carl was fatally hurt but we did what we could. A special train was chartered, and a wire sent to me to arrange transport from the station to the hospital, which was done by stopping the train at the nearest point to the Scott sanatorium. I was allowed to see Carl in the ward, but I doubt if he could recognise anyone ...... Carl went to his last adventure.'    
Percival - 'Fitz' was killed in the early part of 1914 when out with Paul Rainey's hounds ..... Nobody knows quite how the fatality occurred. ..... the abdomen having been the point of the lion's attack - no hope. Died in hospital 2 days later. Fitz Schindler was one of the most daring men I ever met where game was concerned; it has always been a marvel to me that he escaped accident so long.   
White Man - Paul Rainey et al. at Naivasha  ....... they had bayed a very savage lion in a big patch of thick bush near the lake. Fritz Schindler rode up on his pony to see where the lion was. The lion dashed out. Fritz Schindler thought he could get away but the lion caught the pony, hit him a crack on the rump with his paw, and sent him flying end over end. Schindler tore his rifle off his shoulder and quickly fired from the ground at the lion. He missed and the lion got him - shook him by the stomach like a rat and disappeared into the bush again. No one was near enough at the time to help him and he died shortly afterwards. It all happened so quickly that no one had a chance to help.
Into Africa - remembered by some for his dash but by Jackson for his lack of ethics; the worst of the hunters, he said, ignored the game laws, and 'of these an Austrian named Fritz was a bad example' for encouraging his clients to shoot more animals than the licence allowed, keeping the best trophy heads and throwing the rest away.
Gazette - 20/5/14 - Probate & Admin. - Fritz Schindelar who died at Nairobi 26/1/14
Nicholls - Fritz Schindler [sic] was a strange Swiss white hunter of nervous disposition who had despatched 60 lions in his time, despite being an erratic shot. A good raconteur, he was always reckless to the point of madness when hunting and if he had spectators would indulge in foolhardy actions such as going up to a dead lion to cut out its heart and eat a piece of the meat. He said an old Maasai had told him this would give you strength. He was working on the Magadi Railway in January 1914 when he decided to help the American [??] photographer Cherry Kearton to make a film of a lion hunt. During the filming an enraged lion chivvied all morning from place to place mauled Schindler so severely that his abdomen was split open. He died shortly after he was taken to hospital.
North - involved with brick making operation at Entebbe 1902
Barnes - Nairobi South Cemetery - Fritz Schindler, died Jan 1914, Hunter, of lion wounds, buried 26 Jan 1914
Leader14 - Fritz Shindelar - Magadi Junction
Chandler - A colourful and controversial Kenya hunter of the immediate pre-WW1 era. Schindelar's origins are cloaked in mystery. He gave all the outward signs of having had a high birth and a good education, and even today writers sometimes refer to him as an Austrian prince. Other rumours pegged him as coming from Germany or Switzerland. A photograph found after his death shows Schindelar in the uniform of a colonel of Hungarian Hussars, which would indicate that he was indeed of high birth. ……….. [lots more]
Old Africa - 19-5-16 - Christine Nicholls - Who was Fritz Schindler or, as it was frequently written, Schindelar? The British had a tendency to call all German-speaking people ‘Fritz.’ There was a Fritz Schindler in the Nandi district in 1901, involved in a brick-making operation at Entebbe in 1902, and we learn of trader Fritz Schindler in January 1905 buying cattle in Ruanda. This is probably the person who applied for a Resident’s Game Licence in 1909 in Nairobi. We know that he was a tall, thin man of Austrian or Swiss nationality, born about 1871, a former cavalry officer and womaniser whom it is said wore a spotless white suit and shiny boots. This is what Errol Trzebinski says of him in The Kenya Pioneers:
Schindelar was much sought after by the titled from Europe for his talent for bagging record heads for his clients. He was a wanderer who had arrived out of nowhere in 1906 and when not on safari, usually stayed at the Norfolk. He loved to gamble and would sit on the verandah at a table upon which were piled hundreds of gold sovereigns. His mysterious past made him as attractive to women as his looks, for little was known about him except that he had served in a crack regiment of Hungarian hussars. He was a first-class horseman, an ace shot and, because of his style it was impossible to believe his claim of having worked as a hall porter, luggage master and head waiter. However, at the Norfolk Hotel, to the amusement of staff who had a great affection for him, he did duty as a waiter himself occasionally. Arriving back from the bush with hair matted, clothes torn and skin covered in grime from the final march back to civilisation, he appeared two hours later shaved, moustache beautifully waxed, immaculate and ready to serve his friends’ orders on a tray or dance with the prettiest girl available.
Schindler got involved with the wealthy American big-game hunter and photographer Paul Rainey and assisted him as a white hunter. Rainey asked him to charge a lion with his fast white polo pony and although this was something Schindler had done several times, this time the idea was not to kill the lion but to photograph it. They set off from Rainey’s Naivasha ranch and in fifteen days killed eleven lions but failed to film a charging lion. On 21 January 1914 Schindler tried to cut off a lion at the mouth of the Ngasawa gorge and make it chase towards the camera. his meant he had to approach the spot where the lion lay hidden but unfortunately it bounded at Schindler and knocked him out of the saddle. He landed on his feet, but the lion knocked him down and straddled him, tearing out his stomach with its teeth. The other men bandaged Schindler and carried him to the camp while Rainey raced back to get his car and order a special train from Naivasha railway station. That evening the train left with Schindler on the six-hour journey up the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley to the Scott Sanatorium, where he died on 26 January (the cause of death was given as peritonitis) and was buried in Nairobi South cemetery.
UK Foreign and Overseas Registers for death - Fritz Schindelar, peritonitis
Freemason Meiridian Lodge, Cradock, S. Africa 14 Oct 1902

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