The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-08-06
Adventures with Alligators.

Adventures with Allfgators.
A CORRESPONDENT of the New York
San writes from Florida: E
I once visited Lake Jessup with
Judge Emmons, of Jacksonville. The
Judge was a wonderful smarksman, as
full of fun as q magpie; but he was
getting old and his eye-sight was fail
ing. One day we killeda monster alliga-
tor on the edge of . marshy canebrake.
He had splendid teeth, and the Judge
wanted to secure them as mementOes.
The painter of the boat was tied to the
reptiles leg, and we towed him across
an arm of The lake to solid ground. A
small ak was borrowed from. the house
of !. cracker !" near By, and we con-
cluded to decapitate the prize, boil the
head, and remove the teeth. The body
was so large that we could not draw it
upon the shore. A stake was cut and
pointed, and driven through the jaws
of the reptile, pinning him into the
mud. The water was probably two
feet deep. The Judge drew out q
sheath knife, and was about to make an
incision, when he was cautioned by a
bare-footed negro, who stood on the
bank watching the operation with Curl
Gus eyes. 1hi lste
better git shut o. dat ali gatah,
shuah," said he, "twell he done gone
dead" a .Ief
"Oh, good heavenr' exclaimed the
Judge, "he's been dead an hour. If
he was alive, do you reckon he'd allow
us to drive stake through him?'
"No gatah am dead till de sun am
gone down, 1.-THE darkie observed.
The Judge laughed. and passed me
the knife. I inserted the blade in q
bullet hole near the shoulder, and cut a
cash in the flesh. following the trend of
the diamond shaped scales beneath the
skin. Judge Emmons stood near the
monsters tail The knife penetrated
the quivering flesh and was stained
with blood. As quick as flash the
tail shot from the water and the Judge
was knocked fully ten feet. The rep
tile raised its head, stake and all, and
sailed out into the lake like submarine
battery. Judge Emmons lost his glasses.
but was fortunately unhurt. The Incl
dent, however, convinced him that it
was dangerous to fool with q dead ALI
gator until after shutdown.
In the winter of 1875 Twas encamped
in the great Turnbull Swamp, ninety
miles south of St. Augustine, hunting
deer, bears. wildcats, cougars and wild
turkeys. There was great drought,
and the savannas and swamps were
dry. Scores of alligators paraded the
dry savannas in search of water. One
day Captain Frank Sans and Tom Muir
ray, two well-known guides, rode past
the encampment. They were looking
for sour orange stumps, with the inten-
ton of transplanting and grating them.
A hundred yards from camp they
reined in their horses on burnt sa-
wanna and began to shout. Snatching
a double-barreled gun, ran out on the
savanna. Their horses were prancing
around an enormous bull alligator, who
had crawled out of the dry swamp,
and who was headed for the HILLSIDE
rough River. He was confused by the
shouts of the guides and the prancing
of their horses, and I approached him
unseen. Stealing behind him, ran
long palmetto splinter into his eye.
He turned lumberingly over the black
ened stubble, and the guides struck at
him with cow whips. Driven to wari-
ness. he crouched close to the
ground, pulled out his throat, opened
his cavernous mouth. and made
anoise like the rushing of wind. A
moment afterward l DISCHARGED load
of buckshot into each eye. The mon
ster shuddered, and stretched himself
in the agonies of death Captain Sans
dismounted and buried his AK in the
reptiles tail. The vertebra was sew
cred, and he was no longer dangerous,
although there was still life in the tail.
It moved slowly and uneasily like the
tail of wounded snake, and the guides
declared that it would not die until the
setting of the sun. At intervals the
cayman roared like Central Park
lion. Toward night went to the
swamp to mark the roosts of wild tur-'
keys. The day was oppressively hot.
was returning toward camp long after
dark. when found myself on the burnt
savanna. To my surprise, the whole
savanna seemed alive and moving.
Nearly worn out with exhaustion, /
fancied that my head was Keeling,
sure sign of malaria fever. The phe-
nomenon was quickly explained. A
Thousand buzzards were in camp near
the great alligator, awaiting. the light
of day to secure their prey. A year
afterward found the skeleton of this
saurian, and knocked out its teeth. The
savanna was then covered with water q
foot deep.
How Noble Dog Rescued Captain Jack
Crawford, q. s. A.
A SAN JOSE dispatch to the Denver