I think the men roped it. At all events, it was brought to town alive and in chains. Ben Long bought the saurian, had it mounted and placed as a sign in front of his grocery store, on Main street, between Market and Jefferson streets. I have no theory as to why the alligators quit the upper Trinity. Perhaps the sewage of Dallas and Fort Worth had something to do with their going.
Boom Strikes the Village.
The coming of the railroads in 1872 and 1873 started the village on a boom. A number of business firms at once moved to Dallas from Corsicana, and men with money, or its equivalent, abilities and energy, came, came from all over the country, and along with them the usual army of small-fry adventurers to be found in any hurrah frontier town of fifty years ago. With a view of bringing the town up to date and putting it in line to grow with the country, the people elected Ben Long Mayor in 1872. One of the first moves was to give the merchants fire protection. A proposition to purchase fire-fighting apparatus was dashed by the consideration that such machinery would be useless without water.