Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-19
ALLIGATORs.
Some Stories About the Repti

from the st. Louis GlObe-Democrat.
Mr.. Will Smith, who was for long
period keeper at the jetties when they
were in course Of construction, tells
some curious stories about alligators,
which were very numerous there and
through the marshes. The men be-
came so accustomed to them that they
would hardly turn aside to avoid the
largest, and on Sunday it was quite u
common amusement to shoot them,
sometimes half dozen or a dozen be-
ing secured in an afternoon. 1t is 81
mistake to suppose that q rifle ball will
not penetrate an alligator's hide, rs ono
from Winchester striking it in the
head, the toughest part, will generally
take the whole top of the skull off.
Northern people visiting the jctties
were anxious to see alligators, and one
immense fellow, apparently seventeen
feet in length, was encouraged to stay iii
the river in the vicinity, and was known
as Col. Andrews pet. The Colonel
was quite incensed at one time by the
fact that one of the men fired at his IA
vorite with revolver, and by discover
ing on another occasion that Walker,
who is said to have hooked whale, had
made preparations to capture the ALI
gator 10y means of rope, q huge shark
hook and twelve pounds of beef. Al
though the bait was showed invitingly
under. the reptiles nose as he lay on the
bank in the sun, he was too shrewd OF
not hungry enough to be tempted.
"The pet" remained about year or
two, and may still he there. One even
ing as some men were unloading a barge
of rock huge alligator arose out of
the water alongside, and one of the men
pitched fifteen-pound stone at it.
which, from height of twelve or four
teen feet, landed directly on its head
The head must have been smashed
hard as it was, for the saurian, after
turning half dozen somersets
and going through number of
antics, sunk slowly, and seemed dead
Mr.. Smith was coming down the river
one Sunday in q perogue with another
man, a late arrival, when they saw an
enormous alligator asleep on the bank
Smith proposed having some fun with
him, and, without disturbing his slunl-
bers, pulled up alongside, and, crowding
the boat ashore, stood up in it and be-
gan II vigorous attack on the sleeper
with paddles Contrary to their expect
ations, the sluggard started toward
them in his hurry to reach the water,
and, crawling over the boat, upset them
in the mud knee deep and filled the
boat with filth and water. Their
clothes were ruined, and they were
pretty thoroughly disguised on ascer-
tanning that the alligator had lost an
eye. They had attacked him from the
blind side, and he had rolled over them
before he found where the trouble
started.
There are numerous individuals in
the South who make living by killing
and catching alligators. The hide of u
large one is worth from 81 to 50; but it
is very hard work to take it off, and is
almost days task. From the flesh q
very strong and quite valuable oil is
made, which is used for many purposes,
but principally as a remedy for rheu-
matism. 1t has, however, q most I'M
pleasant smell unless properly treated
Many fishermen have been known to eat
portions of the meat, that of the tail
being said, when cooked, to have much
the appearance of veal and taste some
thing like pork. Quite lucrative bust
ness is that of capturing alligators
alive to send away for exhibition Col
Williams, when Spanish Fort was made
summer resort, made a contract with q
fisherman to fill the hole known as the
alligator pond for him, and in the course
of a couple of weeks he had it stocked
with thirty OF forty, ranging in length
from six inches to seven OF eight feet. The
man who caught them showed no fear
in handling the huge reptiles, and for
S. offered to get into the hole and throw
the largest one out over the paling by
which it was surrounded. They are
said to exhibit wonderful alacrity in
"going for" colored person, and dogs
are their favorite diet, while they viii,
as a general thing, endcavor to avoid q
white man. The man who supplied the
pond and his companion have been
known to bring into camp in small
skiff an alligator sixteen feet long and
furious with rage.
The manner of accomplishing this feat
was, as he explained, quite simple The
old are savage and will fight for their
young, and this fact is taken advantage
of. Some of the young are caught out
of the spot III which the old one is lying,
and stout-noosed rope is then placed
where to emerge she must thrust her
head through it, When all is ready the
young are allowed to cry out, and the
old lady thrusts out her head to have
her neck caught in the moose She is
dragged around in the water until pref
ty well choked, when another moose is
secured on her tai, and sue is firmly
strapped, stomach downward, on a wide
board, which she cannot break, as her
powerful muscles in the tail act only in
lateral direction. Her head is then
fastened to the boat, the moose about
her neck is removed, and she is towed
away after her young have been placed
in the skitf. Young ones are bought
by dealers for from s. to 81 dozen,
II not over q foot in length. When
they sell them they get much higher
price, as they are hard to preserve alive.
The large ones are sold differently, there
being an increase in price of 80 cents to
81 for every additional foot over GER
tain length Alli"ators sixteen or eiph-