Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-09-03
A Maroon Escape.

Last Sunday about sun-doWn, tour miles
east Of HansbolO, La, on Biloxi bay, oc-
CURED scene calculated to send thrill OF
horror through every human heart, and to
make even the boldest tremble with fear.
Two little girls, daughters of Mr.. Elam Il.
Blackwell, living on the back bay OF b.
loxi, while bathing in the bay Immediate
ly in front of his dwelling, was attacked
by an enormous alligator. The eldest, a
girl about years old, holding the young
est, and infant of two years, in her hands,
was quietly enjoying her bath, when SUD
denly her little sister WAS Snatcheu from
her and borne suddenly from the shore.
Terrified beyond measure, and unable to
render any assistance to her unfortunate
sister, uttered a scream, which was quick
ly caught 10y the ear of her father, who
happened, accidentally, to be passingWlth-
in thirty or forty yards OF the spot where
his daughters were bathing. Reallzlng
instantly, from the tone OF the voice, Chat
his children were in some peril, Dut 9napie
to conjecture its exact nature, Mr.. Black
well. who is an active and athletic man,
rushed rapidly to their assistance and arrl-
!. we'd lust in time to discover his little
| dauchterbeing borne rapidly out into the
| bay Nv an alligator. Comprehending the
| scene At once. aud nerved to almost super
human effort by the desperate situation OF
his child the asonised father leaped madly
| into the 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 forty or fifty yards out
;.,4o +l,a how frntn the nOint where the
children were bathing, ranges in depth
| from one and a half to two feet, and then
suddenly attains depth of forty or fifty
feet, and both the animal (which by this
| time had discovered the purSult) ana the
father seemed to realize that the deep wa
ter Immediately in front of them once
reached, pursuit and. recovery would be
alike impossible !; both. therefore, redouD-
| led THAR efforts, the one to reach the point,
the other to prevent it. In this struggle,
| although Striking up to the waist III
the soft mud at the bottom at each
| bound. the father was successful. He sue
ceeded in grasping the child by the arm
about ten feet from deep water. The ALI
gator, which all the while held the childs
| foot in its mouth, perceivlng itself over
taken. and alarmed and confused by the
holiness of the assault released its hold and
made it's way rapidly into the deep water LII
front ofit.
The father, completely exhausted, rails
ed his child out of the water, and perceiv-
ing that it still lived, by a desperate effort
succeeded in regaining the shore and depos-
iting the child safely IN the arms of its
mother. The little girlis unhurt with the
exception of couple Of bruises on its
foot, made by the teeth of the monster.
Mr.. Blackwell says the only way he can
account for his child not being drowned
is that at every thirty OF forty feet the al.
ligator would raise itself in the water and
allow the child's head to come out. A:
these intervals it would scream and evil
IDENTIFY breathed enough to maintain life.