Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-11-04

/ \ crowd of darkies and pilgrims gathered
| around. Earnest Mann, of Bayonne, n. j.,
, heard the story with much interest, why
! said he, at its conclusion, that's the same
alligator that killed two DAYS ago. If
/ YOU look under the left fore-leg, you'll find
the mark OF an explosive bullet
! A month later | visited Lake Jesup with
| Judge Emmons, of Jacksonville The
| Judge was wonderful markSman. is full
Of fun as a magpie; but he was getting
old and his eyesight was failing. One day
1 we killed monster on the edge of marshy
/ canebrake. He had splendid teeth, and the
: Judge wanted TO secure them as memen-
/ toes The painter of the boat was tied TO
} the reptiles leg, and we flowed him across
! an arm of the lake to solid ground, A
small AK was borrowed from the house of a
! cracker near by, and we concluded to de-
captate the prize, boil the head aud re-
move 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 a
| sheath-knife, and was about TO make an
| iucision, when he was cautioned by ban e.
| ing the operation with curious eyes.
"Oh, good Lordw exclaimed the Judge /;
hes been dead an hour. If he was alive
do you reckon he'd allow us to drive a
stake through him ~
| mo gatah am dead till de sun am gone
| down" the darkey observed,
The Judge laughed and passed me the
| knife. | inserted the blade in a bullet hole
near the shoulder and cut cash in the
| flesh and followed the trend of the dia-
mond shaped scales beneath the skin,
| Judge EmmOns stood near the monsters
| tail. The knife penetrated the quiyering
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 reptile raised its head, stake and all,
and sailed out into the lake like a sub
marine battery. Judge Emmons lost his
glasses, but was, fortunately, unhurt. The
incident, however, convinced him that it
was dangerous to fool with dead alligator
until after shutdown.
In the winter of 1875 | was encamped
in the great Turnbull swamp, ninety miles
south of st. Augustine, hunting deer, bears,
wild cats, cougars, and wild turkeys There
was a great drouth, and the savannas and
swamps We're dry. Scores of alligators pa
raded the dry sayannas i'll search of water,
One day Capt Frank Sans and Tom Muir
ray, two wcll-known guides rode past the
encampment. They were looking for sour
orange stubs, with the intention of trans
planting and grating them. A hundred
yards from camp they reined il their
horses on burnt savanna, and began TO
shout. Snatching Il double-balTcled 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 Hills
borough river He was confused by the
shouts of the guides and the prancing of
their horses, and ! approached him unsee n.
Stealing behind Rim, / ran long palmetto
splinter in his eye. lie turned lumberingly
over the blackcned stubblc, and the guides
struck at him with COW hides. Driven TO
warlness, he crouched close the ground
pufied out hlS throat, opened his cavernOuS
mouth, and made a noise like tie rushing
OF wind. A moment atterward | dis
charged a load of buckshot into each eye
The monster shuddered and stretched him
self in the agOnies of death. Capt Sam,
dismounted and buried his AK in the rep
tiles tail The yertebra was severed, and
he was no longer dangerous, although there
was still life in the tail. 1t moved slowly,
and uneasily, like the tail of a wounded
snake, and the guides declared that a
would not die until the setting Of the sun
AT intervals the cayman roared like Cen
trail Park lion. Toward night | went to
the swamp TO mark the roostS of wild tar
keys The day was oppressively hot
was returning toward camp long after dark
when 1 found myself upon the burnt sa-
| wanna. To my surprise the whole savanna
seemed alive and moving. Nearly worn
out Vita exhaustion tancied that my
heac was Keeling, a sure sign of malarial
fever, The phenomenon was quickly ex-
planned. A thousand buzzards were in the
camp near the great alligator, waiting the
light of day to secure their prey. year
aiterward / found the skeletol of this sau-
rian, and knocked out its teeth. The sa-
wanna was then covered with water foot
deep.
In the following winter l was shooting
plUmed hcrons on the great sayanas at
the head Of Indian river Ny guide WAS
the well-known Judge Common, once a
Methodist clergyman. One morning while
riding over the vast prairie on horseback,
we met an alligator longer than the moral
law shoot him, said the Judge.
ooh, no" replied Il don't want to kill
him. The report Of the gun will scare
every heron within a mile, and / shall get
no plume"
But, Lord blast my buttons, said the
Judge "he eats my hogs and young calves
on the range Shoot him"
No / answered, II have come twenty
miles for plumes, and don't intend to go
back without them"
"MrLIn said Conner. "yon're the frst