The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-10-16
SAVAGE SEA ELEPHANTS.
MARINE MONSTERS THAT BITE OFF
AND THROW ROCKS.
Panther Story-TaIe of n Rather
A cute Coilic-Mice swallowed
bY an oyster.


by an Oyster.
"Did you ever meet with sea elc-
plant captains"
"Oh, yes. Up round Behring's straits
I've often seen them, and they are tough
fellows, too" replied Captain Gilderdale
to the reporter of the New Haven NeOs.
care they hard to kill2'
"No; it's easy enough killing 'em, but
when they are dying they kick up Il
great fuss. With their little short teeth
I've seen 'em bite off piece of rock as
big as a spttoon and throw it at man
with fearful force. found one on "A reef
one day, and as we needed some more oil
| ordered the boat stcerer to make for
the gully way in the rocks where he was.
We came right up to him, put an iron
into him and hauled him after us into
clear water.
"Then got into the bow right under
his nose, when he grabbed the bow of the
boat in his teeth and tore away a streak
fore and aft. lie bit off the ends of
three lances, and another he snapped out
of my hands and tried to throw it at us.
Once he made a snap at me with his head,
throwing me right into the boat on my
back. | picked up Ratchet, and with
my two hands buried it in his head up
to the handle. 1t killed him outright.
ale was twenty-five feet long, and
gave two dozen barrels of oil. We made
blanket sheets of his blubber, cutting it
into pieces three feet square. Then pierre
ing hole in the centre of each block and
running through spun rope we made a
raft of them and towed it TO the ship.
The usual way to kill sea-elcphant used
to be to run right up to him, hit him I'M
der the jaw with an oar, which would
make him raise up his head, when we
would fire right up through his mouth
into the brain"
A San Francisco Chronicle correspond
ent from Upper Soda Springs, at the
headwaters of the Sacramento river, tells
of an adventure of gentleman who
went out to camp at the Lick. AS he
was upon his hands and knees peerng
through low breastwork of brush and
rails, to his surprise and horror he saw
within three feet of him q large panther
which was creeping stealthily toward an
opening in the small triangular shaped
Enclosure which partly concealed his
body. The hunters first impulse was to
draw himself up on his hands and knees
and grasp his rife. He thought that
though probably having scented him the
panther had not seen him until this
movement attracted the beasts attention
for she sprang back few yards and be-
gan grinnng and snarling in most
familiar though exceedingly diagrceabie
manner.
To draw his rifle to his shoulder, take
aim and fire was but moments work,
and the deed was done. One shot,
thanks to steady nerves and q sure aim,
was all that was required. The creature
measured seven feet, and the vicious
looking claws and head, with its gaz.
ing eyes and carniverous teeth, were not
at all pleasant to contemplate.
81 was riding along the road when my
horse stopped and showed signs Of
fright" said Chambers county (Ga. }
man. 81 looked and saw what supposed
was a log between twenty. five and thirty
feet in length. Knowing my horse was
very much afraid of snakes, | examined
to see if there could be one of these rep
tiles near the supposed log, when the
fact dawned upon me that the object was
huge snake. alighted and threw a
stone at what then knew to he snake.
/ striking it near the head, when it jumped
his full length, twenty-five or thirty feet
AS soon as he got still counted eighty
nine rattles and several buttons on his
tail. | met gentleman afterward who
told me his snakeship had been seen near
! the same place for fifteen or twenty years,
and he had counted as many as 1872 rat
ties on his TAIL and that when he opened
his mouth he exhibited his fangs, about
six inches long"
A friend of mine owns q beautiful
| Scotch collie that looks after herd of
| fifty Jersey and IIolstein cattle daily,
says q writer in a Western paper The
| cattle are on large farm near Elgin, and
! every morning after milking hour the
cows are turned loose on the public road.
AS they wander along towards the
river stragglers are kept in line
by the collie, and during the day he
watches their movements so closely
that COW cannot get away from the
herd. If they wade out into the stream
he makes no attempt to follow unless one
| should show desire to cross to the OPP
| posite side. Then the collie swims out
duN COuNlHCOS luC clIluS DONluc THAT
she'd better return where she belongs.
On sunny or cloudy days that herd is
seen returning homcward by five o'clock
with no other guardian than the collie
Two little mice have achieved immor-
tality, so to speak, at Wnitestaplc, Eng
land. One evening since two or three
oysters were put away in an earthen pen.
During the night couple of young ro-
dents found out the dainty dish and in
serted their hungry mouths within the
open shells of one of the bivalves. In
the morning they were found fast, held
by the closed shells of the oysters and
of course quite dead. The oyster con-
tinued its firm hold on the intruders,
and the trio were at once immersed in
spirits. and will in due course be placed
in the local museum.