Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1885-08-29
CRIPPLED BIZ AN OCTOPUS
The Horrible Sensation Of the Touch Of the
Creature Described.

Creature Described.
If you can stand before the glass cas-
in the Smithsonian institution inclosinl
aspecimen Of the octopus and not fee
your flesh crawl, you have more nerve
than most men. As one looks over thos'
long, hairy arms, each one provided
With suckers at every joint, and notices
the cruel beak and looks into the wick
ed, staring eyes, he instinctively shrink
away, as if the dead monster still hae
power to harm.
We were off the Florida coast gather
ing sponges. In those days-and thu
practice is still pursued by the poore
class of sponge gatherers-we got oul
sponges in anchoring our small sloop
or schooner over the bed and then div
ing from her rail to the bottom of The
sea, carrying a weight along to sink III
the faster. A good pair of lungs anG
years of experience finally enabled me
to reach bottom in thirty or thirty-fve
feet of water and come up with more OF
less of haul.
On that warm coast the shark and the
octopus and other horrible things be.
longing to the fish or reptile species are
present, and often lying in wait. The
diver has horror of them at first, but
the feeling soon wears away, and some
men become perfectly reckless. During
the first year / never went down with
out sharp knife in my belt to give any
prowling shark thrust, but later on
would take q header of the rail when a
sharks dorsal fin was cutting the water
not 100 yards away.
During the second season we lost two
men by sharks, but took no precau
tions and had no narrow escapes. In
the beginning OF the third season we
anchored over a splendid bed, in 10.
cation well sheltered from storm and
swell, and we had reason to anticipate a
profitable catch.
There were four of us on that trip, and
the first man off the rail was an old
diver named Peterson. This was about
o'clock in the morning, and although
we had been up for two hours the bay
had been clear of sharks. We watched
Peterson 90 over, but we watched in
vain for him to come up. Twenty Sec
onds passed-then thirty-forty-and
the captain leaned over the rail and
called out:
"Boys, the old man has got fast down
there and is conner"
We waited ten seconds longer and
then felt sure that we should never see
the old man alive again.
We were in twenty eight feet of water
and the trawl showed the bottom to be
clear of weeds and made up of ock and
sand. 1t was hard to guess what had
happened. He might have bumped his
head against a rock, or had his foot
caught in a crevice-he might have
burst blood vessel or been taken with
cramps. None of us thought of an octo-
pus in connection with his sad fate. We
had seen a small one three days before,
and we know that the creatures lurked
in the still waters, but somehow we spec
ulated on all other theories but this.
AS you may imagine, the loss of
old Peterson upset us, and it was good
half hour before any of us had recalled
our courage. 1t was my next turn down
and as finally got ready to 90 the cap
tain handed me a long, keen, sharp
knife on which he had Just put an
might be useful in enabling me to send
up the dead body than through any bod
lily fear. If Peterson had been caught in
crevice, or was held fast by marine
plant, the knife would loosen him.
Well, over l went at last, and it was
only few seconds before l struck bot
tom close to large rock. Sponges were
growing ali around me, and as l reached
out for the nearest felt something whip
across my bare shoulders. All the dress
/ had on was a pair of trunks, leaving
legs, shoulders, arms and most of the
body naked. That something" stung
and burned and blistered, but in two
seconds the feeling had passed from
shoulders to waist, and in another Sec
ond it was in my legs. 1t was not until
/ tried to spring away l realized my sit
uation. At the first move l was jerked
in the most violent manner towards the
rock, and the burning increased ten
fold.
An octopus had gripped me. He had
three of his terrible arms around me, and
was drawing me to the rock. How his
suckers burned and blistered! How
the harry arms gripped and twisted!
tell you was frightened man, and
for several seconds forgot that l had
knife in my belt. When / finally reach
ed for it the octopus had dragged me in
to the shadow of the rock, and there l
saw old Peterson's body. Two of the
creatures arms were around it and l was
to make another victim.
My left arm was bound to my side but
the right was free. AS drew the knife
caught sight of the body of the rep
tile. In fact, the arms were drawing me
within reach of his beak. did no
slash at the arms, but struck straight
the ielly-like body. / had then been
down so long that my ears were roaring
and l realized that l had only few sec
onds to spare. Luck guided my blows,
and slashed at the creature until pieces
of the body foated around me and the
arms let up their grip. Then started
for the surface, and l reached it about
as near dead as a man could be and
have any life left. They pulled me in
board, and with me came the three ter
rible arms that had been cut from the
body. Not a sucker would loosen its
grip, and they had to cut them off with
knives one by one, close to my flesh.
Effect? Well, that was the last dive l
ever made, for / was in bed for months
can show you thirty spots on my body
where the flesh looks like a fire burn,
and the remembrance of the situation
down there will start chill over me in
the hottest day. The serpent, and
crocodile and shark are terrible enough,