The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-08-24
LOCKED IN A FLOATING TOMB.
An Invention thut Killed Many AIIisators
and Topped on with the Inventor.

An Invention that Killed Many AIIisators
aud Topped on with the Inventor.
"I see by this mornings Sum-" said
Mr.. Magufin, that Mrs. O'Klantikop
is married again. Her last husband,
Major O'Klantikop, used to board here.
He spent his winters in Florida hunting
alligators, and a more devoted sports
man / never saw; but he never was sat
isfed with the old method of shooting
with rifle. There was 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. So the major went up to Charles
ton one winter and bought condemned
columbiad that had been used in the
siege of Fort Sumter, and had it
mounted at q bend in the st. Johns
river, and trained to command the
water adjacent to the point round which
all the alligators must come; aud hav-
ing loaded with 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 floating derrick; but when the ami
NAL came within clear range, O'Klanti-
kop saw that it was monster alligator,
and he pulled the lanyard. The aim
was beautiful. The shell struck just in
side the tip of the lower jaw, and as it
rolled along toward =. his throat, the
change in the alligator's expression was
remarkable; 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 gleeful fancy, but it more
than restored his openness Of counte-
nance. The major said subsequently,
however, that while this method of de-
stroying alligators was undoubtedly ef-
SO he left the big gun to rust on the
bank of the river, and invented new
plan.
4" His outfit this time was q fishing
rod, feather, and a 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
delicately tickle an alligator's jaws with
the feather, and when he closed his eyes
and opened his mouth to enjoy the I'M
usual Utilization, The maj ior would quietly
step up with the scantling, and have the
jaw braced back before the alligator
know what was the matter. Then
O'Klantikop would calmly put bullet
down his gullet, and take his prize
ashore. In this way he captured sixty
seven alligators in four months.
One day the erpilot of the steamer
that runs up tltr st. Johns saw an OBJ
struction which was not down on the
charts, and which had not even been
visible wren the boat made her previous
trip. Backing his engine, the pilot was
still more surprised to see the obstruc-
ton making toward him. 1t looked
something like spar buoy adrift, and
when it came still nearer it was made out
to be piece of stout scantling sticking
Up through the upper jaw Of gigantic
alligator. The pilot was amazed; but
I when the story reached Jacksonville, the
fate of Major O'Klantikop, who had
been missing for three or four weeks,
was no longera mystery; everybody who
was familiar with the majors style of
hunting knew that the strangely planted
piece of scantling which the pilot had
seen was Major O'Klantikop's tomb
stone, and that the major was buried
about seven feet back of it, The gem
orally accepted theory was that O'Klan-
tikop, made reckless by uninterrupted
success, had mi calculated in placing
the top end of the scantling, and the
rafters in the roof of the alligator's
mouth had given way, letting the mighty
jaws together, and locking up the maio
in sarcophagus which i'll move lty of
design and high qualities of absortion,
completely laid over anything in that
way ever constructed by the Greeks"