The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1876-09-07
LOCKED IN A FLOATING TOMB.
An Invention that KILLED Many AIIign.
tors and Topped oil with the Inventor.


" | see by this mornings SUM-" said
Mr.. Maguhin, "that Mrs. O'Klantikop
is married again Her last husband, Ma
ior 'Klantkop, used to board here. lie
spent his winters in Florida hunting al
Iirators, and a more devoted sportsman
| never saw; but he never was satisfied
with a rifle. There was n great waste in
the bullets that glanced off the reptiles
backs, and frequently one would get
away before he could hit it in a vital
spot. 50 the major went up to Charles
ton one winter and bought Il condemned
columbiad that had been used in the
siege of fort Sumter, and had it mount
ed ut bend in the St. Johns river, and
trained to command the water adjacent
to the point round which all the alliga-
tors must come; and having loaded with
Il ten-inCh shell, he waited.
"The very next day there came up
stream an alligator that seemed tickled
with something that pleased his fancy
very much; when he swung his upper
Jaw back to laugh the major thought it
was n floating derrick; but when the an
imal came within clear range, O'KIant-
kop saw that it was a monster alligator,
and he pulled the lanyard. The aim was
beautiful. The shell struck just inside
the tip of the lower jaw, and as it rolled
along toward his throat, the change in
the aIIigator's expression was remarka-
BILE he shut his mouth with clip that
was heard ten miles away, and fairly
bumped himself as the bomb rolled down
the interior. About midway Of the body
the shell exploded. The explosion could
not bring back the happy alligator's last
gIeeiul fancy, but it more than restored
his openness of countenancc. The major
said subsequently, however, that while
this method of destroying alligators was
undoubtedly effective, it broke 'cm up
too fine; and 50 he left the big gun to
rust on the bank Of the river, and in
vented new plan.
ellis outfit this time was a fishing
rod, a feather, and piece of scantling
about eight feet in length. Having
fastened the feather to the end of the
rod, the major would walk to the edge of
the river, reach over the bank, and deli
cately tickle an alligator's jaws with the
feather, and when he closed his eyes and
opened bis mouth to enjoy the unusual
Utilization, the major would quietly step
up with the scantling, and have the jaw
braced back before the alligator knew
what was the matter. Then OkIanti-
kop would camly put bullet down his
gullct, and take his prize ashore. In
this way he captured sixty-sevcn alliga-
tors in four months.
Gone day the pilot of the steamer that
runs up the st, Johns saw an obStruc-
ton which was not down on the charts,
and which had not even been visible
when the boat made her previous trip.
Backing his engine, the pilot was still
more surprised to see the obstruction
making toward him. 1t looked some
thing like a spar buoy adriit, and when
it came still nearer it was made out to be
piece of stout scantling sticking up
through the upper jaw OF gigantic aIll-
gator. The pilot was amazed but
when the story reached Jacksonville the
fate of major O'Klantikop, who had been
missing for three or four weeks, was no
longer a mystery; everybody who was
familiar with the majors style of hunt.
ing knew that the strangely planted
piece of scantling which the pilot had
seen was major o KlantikoP's tombstone,
and that the major was buried about
seven feet back of it. The generally ac-
ceptcd theory was that Oklantikop,
made reckless by uninterrupted success,
had miscalcuIated in placing the top end
of the scantIing, and the rafters in the
roof of the alligator's mouth had given
way, letting the mighty jaws together,
and locking up the major in sarcophagus
which in novelty of design and high
qualities of absorption, completely laid
over anything in that way evef con
structed by the Greeks"