New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-08-01
A Father Rescues His Child from the
Clutches of an Alligator.


Last Saturday about shutdown, foul
| miles east of this place on Biloxi Bay, oc
| CURED a spene calculated to send thrill Oi
horror through every human heart, and to
make even the boldest tremble with fear.
Two little girls, daughters of Mr.. Elan r.
Blackwell, living on the back bay of Bno1a
while bathing in the bay immediately in
front of his dwelling, were attacked by an
enormous alligator. The eldest, a girl
est, an infant OF two YEARS, in her hands,
was quietly enjoying her bsth, when sd
denly her little sister was snatched from
her and borne swiftly from the shore. Ter
ritied beyond measure, and unable to render
any assistance to her unfortunate sister, the
elder girl uttered scream, which was
quickly caught by the ear of her father,
who happened, accidentally, to be passing
in thirty or forty yards of the spot where
stantly, from the tone of the voice, that his
children were in some peril, but unable
to conjecture its exact nature Mr.. Black
we'll, who is an active and athletic man,
rushed rapidly 70 their assistance, and ar
rived at the spot just in time to discover
his little daughter being borne out into the
bay by an alligator. Comprehending the
human effort by the, desperate situation q
biz child, the agonized father leaped madly
into ahe water in pursuit of the would be
destroyer Of his daughter. which was then
some twenty-five or thirty yards from
shore. The water, for distance of torty
or fifty yards out intoP the bay from the
point where the children were bathing,
ranges in depth from one and half to two
feet, and then suddenly attaine depth of
forty or fifty feet, and both the animal
(which by this time had discovered the pur-
suit) and the father seemedsto realize that
the deep water Immediately in front of
them once reached, pursuit and recovery
would be alike impossible; both,
therefore, redoubled their efforts, the one to
reach the point, the Other to prevent it.
In this struggle, although sinking to his
waist in the soft mud at the bottom at each
bound, the father was successful. He sue
about ten feet from deep water. The ALI
gator, which all the while held the child's'
foot in Its mouth, perceiving itself over
taken, and alarmed and confused by the
boldness OF the assault, released it's hold
and made it's way rapidly into the deep
water in front Of it. The father, conf
pletely exhausted, raised his child out of
water, and perceiving that it still lived,
by desperate effort succeeded in regaining
the shore and depositing the child safely
in the arms of It's mother. The little girl
is unhurt with the exception Of a couple of
bruises on Its foot made by the teeth Of the
monster.
We obtain these facts from Mr.. Blackwell
himself, who in truthful and reliable man,
and we assure our readers this is no fiction,
but that every word ls true. Mr.. Black
we'll says the only way that he can account
for his child not being drowned, is that at
every. thirty or forty feet the alligator
would raise itself In the water and allow ]
The chil0'S head to come ont At these in
tervals it would scream, and evidently
breathed enough to maintain life.
Parents had Better be cautious with their
children and keep them out of the water
The bayou in front Of this town is every
lay full of children, and there is hardly a
lay passes without one Of these dangerous
animals being seen in the immediate vicin-
ty.. 1t would not surprise us at any time
% hear of some child being devoured W
me of these ugly creatures.-Hansboro
Democrat.