Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-02-21
An ALLIGATOR FIGHT.
4 Florida Hist0giaH's AccouAf Of oA
Extraordinary Battle.

Here the Old mQu sounded hl
pockets, and drew up an ancient plu
e Of tobacco. 1t was 50 moist that ]
appeared TO have been fished ont of
D, hogshead Of molasses. The Captain
. planted his two teeth in it, and rip
; ped OIL fair percentage. Afte
!. chewing it a minute the quid settled
IN his cheek, and he elected a rye
straw.
"Gators,7 he continued. ..knowi
a heap more than uigger. They've
got some way NV talkin', with eacl
other, an they knows what's going
on IN the river better than a steam
. boat captain. Bless my buttons,
J child, they know the shifting Of every
bar an channel / sometimes think
that they look mp 10 some old gator
as boss, or a kind NV a king. Bees
has kings an why not gators Thar
must be a directiu' spirit among 'em.
sure. They hev their leaders, sure's
you're born. Rye-straw No. 81
Thirty year, ago 1 KEEP "a boardin'
house over there on Shell Mound. [
had forty-nine cows givin' milk all
the time, an I'll allow the house vytlz
always full of boarders at S2Oa month.
| They went through fOur saddles of
! yenson every day, and i paid two
men a dollar day 70 hunt dur for
| the boGrders
ENCIEniENT AMONG rIfE AIIlHAruus.
! ''LOrdy, thar use 10 bc-tlruu any -
! Gods quantity of gators in the lake.
! Why, You couldn't leave a fish in a
| boat five minutes but what a gator or
4 uigger wOald steal it. TRye-straw
No. 8. Well, long IN June first
begun to notice that something was
the matter with the gators. There
was trouble among 'em. They seem
ell to have fallen ont about something.
They acted excited and oneasy Ike.
and they @roancd more than usual in
the night. Heaps % men noticed il
besides me. l remember one mornin'
We went down to the big sulphur
spring run-yOu've bin thar Yourself |
and we saw two gators with their |
talls up agln two palmetto trees n |
standIn' on their heads, and more /
than two dozen gators in the water /
a lOokin' on. Another time / seen /
three gators asleep on their backs in
The sun, side by side, and never see
a gator a sleeping on his back before
or since. Rye-stra No. 4. IL
knowed something was the matter.
why, bless yOu, you'd see gators |
whar you never see EN- before Old
cusses that had been IN their holes
for years, left home aud padded !
around the lake, takin' hand i'm the
trouble. And II vrns isst ia, forty
or fifty mile mp and down the river
Sich crawlin', aud clawin'. and SWIM
min, and cUssin' beat all that was
ever seen in Florida. We cot word
from Blue Spring that the gators had
all left Palatka and We're headed up
the ryer. About the same time old
Reddick, mp at Reddick's Landing, |
nigh onto Sand Lake. said he saw
whole slews Of gators padding down
the river. Reddick said thar war ten
thousand of EN-. Lordy, l think thar
was more on en-. Rye-straw No. >. J
THE BArrLE or THE ALLIGAroRs.
lone night there was terrible
time. Bless your buttons, we couldn't
sleep for the noise. All the gators
wur turned loose and a raisin' h-Il.
We could hear 'em a roarin' up the
river and down the river, and in the
lake in front of us. They shuck the
air with their roarin'. You'd a tho't
that every gator wUr Il tryin' to split I
his throat. Thar was no use in tryin' ! ,
10 sleep. We were all up before day
light, and could hear the gators a
rattlin' round in the lake an shakin' ]
things up gin rally. At daybreak we
could see EN- slashing the foam on
the bar at the mouth of the river. ,
The gators comm down the river 1
lad met the gators comm mp, and ]
5ig fight war gOin' OH We could
hear their jaws snap clean over 20 1
Shell Mound that was three miles
and at MellOnville they could see any {
Of Gods quantity OF gators. Thar {
must We been six hundred acres of I
EN-. They fought all the forenoon. {
Heaps of 'em were killed, and the lake
was kiyered with blood. They bit off
each others arms and legs. and made 4
awful noises when they wur hurted. S
A man at MellOnville told me that lie S
seen 'em raise right mp out of the ;
water, like two dogs, and stand on I
heir tails, and fight. Rye-straw t
No. 6. e
THE DEAD AND WOUNDED i
..Why Lord bless your buttons, so l
many gators hoated ashore that it l
vas nigh brcedin' of a yellow fever. :
indeed it was. Fer months after q
ward you could see gators a paddlin'
lrOund the lake with only one arm.
same OF 'em had their eyes bit out,
md war stone blind. One feller had +
piece of his nose taken off, and big a
,hunk bit out ov his back. The boys "
cit mighty sorry for him, and never
lsed to shoot at him. lie wur around +
he lake for twenty year, and growed q
o be a mOnstrous gator. You could
llways tell him by the big scar on his ,
pack, and he waggled sideways like
le war cripple. Rye-straw No. :. +
some Yankee that didn't know him !
lilled him Just after the war
Here the Captain pulled a rope 4
hanging down at the side of thc pilot a
louse. The boat blew her whistle
md / took the hint and left As the 7
Daylight steamed from the dock the =
Captain sent a half-dOZen rye-straws
)ut of the windows of the pilot-house,
md bent himself 10 the wheel. Since !
hen 1 have cOnversed with several
I'D settlers, and they all bear witness +
% the truth of Capt. Devael's story /
If the great alligator fight. One of
hem showed me n copy Of an old
called the Georgian, and
printed in Savannah, containing an J
recount of the fight. 4