St. Mary's beacon., 1862-04-17

and ) o'clock. p. M. On Thursday. the
3rd instant. Notwithstanding the dag of
exhibition was SO near at hand, pcrsons
c,utinutd to travel t.swarls the Captain
r.,i.ence to g. 1 . peep in advance. aud he
fund il necessary to keep guard at his
outer gate to wsrr sthcm against coming
nearer, until he could subiue the animal.
The over curious. upon being advised that,
a., the wind set towards the huuse. there
was danger that tho Varmint would get .
smell Of their horses. the whip was gcncr-
ally quite freely applied causing SOME fast
moving indeed.
Well, Thursday ut last came and when
! arrived. about noon, crowds Of persons
OF all classes had already congreg.ted and
they continued to p"ur 10 until the num-
Der present was said to be great.r than
ever before seen in the place. As the
hours passed, the anxiety to see the ami
NAL seemed to increase beyond Endurance,
and when, about 2 o'clock. some vag sug-
gcst that hey had been hoaxed and that he
believed that the varnlint was still at large.
the dissatisfaction became very great, and
many who had, travelled several miles de-
clarcd it too important a matter to tritie
with. The friends of Capt. Watts denied
that he was capable of such deception aud
searched through the crowd to find tie
man who dared to say so. \ general
muss appeared to be imminent, when the
Captain made his appearance Oh horse
back followed BY wagon in which was a.
huge cage, closely covered. containing the
vertable beast and crowd of persons
some distance in the rear. who declared
that it had roared most hideously on the
way when any Ole approached very near.
The excitement Was now beyond descrip-
tion. The immense throng, pressing
aruurd the Captain, Congratulated him as
the greatest public bcnefacior of the age,
an propositions were at once made and
I'm .mimously concurrcd in, 70 subscribe
amounts sutfici ut to purchase a fitting tes-
tirnonial, as q token Of the indomitable
bravery aud ingenuity displayed in secur-
ing this great enemy Of the community
The Captain, in a neat speech. promptly
declined anything Of this kind, deeming
charge of ten cruts sight amply sufficient
to rcmun'rate him for the expense incur
rel in maturing the machincry SC. for
him capture. and, without. more ado, the
cage containing the varmiut was placed
in position in the spacious room f~,nili-
arly known as the Court House aud
the competent door-kcepcr announced
his readiness to receive tue dimes, which
were handed in as fast as he could
coant. and soon the room was full to
ovrrfowing. The cage was then un-
covered and there lay stretched the f.
rocious varmint. and, after repeated as
suranccs from the Captain that the Gag"
was secure. one after another vcnlurcd
near cn"ugh to inspect the c-u-r-i-o-s-i-t-y.
vi course. all manner Of questions were
asked and answered a. T. lie habits of
the animal, and, in answer 10 AN cuqui-
ry as to his diet. we were Informed by
the Captain, to our establishment. that
the animal was remarkably fond Of fried
chicken or becfstcak and he was Of tho
opinion that it would not refuse roast
turkey if offered, but he had not tried
that
AS to myself. the reputation Of thr
varn,i;t for ferocity lost nothing after 81
glimpse Of its eyes and l immediately
drew back to the outer circle, amid the
CALCULATIONS Of Oh: what eyes! What
face. What hair! What q tail. And.
what looking beast all over. One old
gentleman. who seemed to be more
scrutinizing than others, desired to have
more light. az he was not satis6ed rs
TO tho length If The . .iraa's tail, anoth-
or desired to see its feet and a third
party wished to see if it had dew-elaws
The Captain was requested +, make il
stand up, when he declared he had been
three days in getting it to lay down,
and. from the knowledge he had &C.
quircd Of its disposition, he believed the
sane length Of time would be required
to make it stand up. Izowevcr. be- de-
sired to accommodate and would make
the attempt. but could not be RESPONSE
bio for any loss Of life that might re-
suit in case the animal should become
excited and break loose, where upon
general rush was made for the street
amid loud protestations against molcssing
the terrible varmist in any manner
Some few, more brave than the rest, az
ter they had gotten out. in the street,
declared that they were not frightened,
as it was not the first Pollygrab they
had seen. One said the one he saw
had bob tail. another said this was ex-
acgly like the one he saw. except its eyes
were more yallcrcr and the spots were
more blucr. but he supposed this being
she one accounted for the difference. But
none dared to return to the room The
Captain then appeared at the door, declar-
ing that the hour for closing the exhibi-
ton had arrived. and invited all present to
partakc Of collation. which he had ordered
at friend Jones store, which was cheerful
ly accepted and freely enjoyed. as a finale
to the exhibition Of the first and only gen
uine Royal Ganges Pollygrab known to
be in existence.
Yours truly.
3. 4. H.
p s We arc authorised IN assnr. A..