Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-05-03
Among the AlligatOrs.

Among the AlligatOrs.
A Noted Hunter Relates his Experience
with the Monarch of the Lagoon.
A Sun correspondent has been inter
viewing an old Florida alligator hunter,
and from him gained some interesting
information relative to the monsters of
the lagoon. Formerly the lagoons and
lakes, as well as the river itself, above
Enterprise, were filed with alligators.
They are thicker there now than on any
other part of the st. Johns. If pas
senger ona river boat killed an alligator,
Cone, the hunter, marked the spot.
Occasionally three or four aligators
would be killed inside of three miles.
Capt. Cone would then cast off his little
boat, retrace his course and skin the
animals. He gets seventy-fve cents
piece for the hides delivered in Jackson
vile. At this time he was filling an
order from a London firm, through q
Jacksonville merchant, for 5000 hides.
Said Cone-these here skins make three
hundred and forty odd gators, L reckon,
L have bagged. You see huntin' gators
halnt what it used to be. There haint
the number O gators in the first place,
and the big gators is more skeery. |
reckon they know more than they
knowed oncet. Now, [ can remember
three or four years ago when gator
hides was wuth from two to four dollars
apiece in Jacksonville. Now they hain't
wuth a quarter as much. Correspon-
dent-How large was the biggest gator
killed by you this season? Capt. Gone
Not over ten feet. The gators is
little this season, [ reckon, or the big
uns is too plaguey skeery. But it's all
the same on the hides. One hides
wuth as much as tother. Correspondent
How long does it take you to skin an
alligator ? Capt. Cone-Well, I done
peeled the bark from a gator in twelve
minits. I'll everedge fifteen minits,
reckon. At this point two passengers
saw an alligator on the right of the
boat, and opened fire. The old gator
hunter Strengthened himself up, grabbed
his rifle and rushed on the other side of
the pilot house just in time to see the
Shiny black animal slide into the water.
"Now," said Capt Gone, on his return,
the heap O lead that is thrown away
on gators by these here die-hards who
come down to Florida every winter, is
more than any man 'ud reckon on.
Yesterday a die-hard signifed to me
that he thought he saw gator with his
head out OF the water, and he went to
pitchin' bullets into that here gator.
He had one of these rifles that shoots
eighteen times one after another with
out stoppin' ,and I'll be dog -goned eff he
didn't put eighteen bullets into the
gator, and the gator stood it. Twant
nothing but sunken log stickin' out of
the water after ALL" The old gator
hunter said that he had killed few
allieators by moonlight. Occasionally
he found them in the night time away
from the river, prowling for food in the
pine woods. Indeed the pine woods in
Southern Florida are filed with alli-
gators. l found them thicker there
than in any other spot. The woods are
frequently cut up into swamps and
savannas, and water stands in these
places all the year round. The alliga-
tor makes large holes in these swamps
and savannas. He covers the holes
with dried cane, grass, and whatever he
can find of similar nature. This COW
ering is raised like cone, and is two or
three feet in height. There is a hole in
one side of the covering, through which
the gator crawls out and in. In these
holes the female alligator raises her
family. In Turnbull swamp, near New
Smyrna. L saw an alligator hole which
seemed to be filled with young ones
about eight inches long. L was hunting
deer with Mr.. A. j. Alexander of Wood,
burn farm, Kentucky, and Capt. Frank
Sans, prominent Indian river hunter.
Sans was about to put his hand in the
hole to pick up one of the little gators
when Mr.. Alexander shouted, "Hold
on, Sans, there's an old she one in that
hole, and she's watching you. 1 can
see her head" Mr. Alexander then
drew a bead on the old she one. and
fired. There was thrashing of the
water as if tiger had fallen into a
cistern. Mr.. Alexander had hit the old
gator, but had not killed her. In her
agony she had thrown one of the little
fellows near the mouth of her nest.
Sans snatched it up and put it in his
pocket. The little fellow was very
lively, and his eyes were as bright as
diamonds. We took him to Lowd's
Hotel at Smyrna and tied him on the
mantelpiece. He became quite tame
and would amuse himself by catching
flies He was very pugnacious and
would croak and snap at little sticks on
the slightest provocation. About
Smyrna there are thousands of alliga.
tors. The people there say it does not
pay to kill them for their hides, as
Smyrna is too far from a market
1t was sundown when Capt. Gone
prepared to leave the boat. He said he
knew where there were two gators in 9
marsh near an old Indian mound, anG
he was going after them. AS he enter.
ed his boat I asked him what was the
length of the largest gator he had evel
killed. " Fifteen feet and two inches
] reckon" he shouted back. He ther
hoisted his sail, and we soon lost sight
IL. IL l..