Connecticut western news., 1885-11-11
A BIG' ALLIGATOR.
Novel Manner of Destroyin g
 the Sasurian.
Trolling for the Reptile with an Infe rnal
 Machine fm Bait.

The story of the pursuit and de- struction of a huge aIh gator is told as follows in a Florida lett CT to the New York Sum- We found him after a three days hunt. Just above the mouth of creek flowing into the St. Johns river was small bay or la goon, and as we rC'wed softly into this, we caught sight of .dim.
 He was the biggest. ugliest-looking alligator ever seen in the state ot Flor ida. He was two-thirds out of water on the sandy shore, and on that part of his body thus exposed we could see the marks of dozen bullets. Ut was evident, from his size and WrLnKles, that he was an old denizen-a boss among alligators. How many dark les, pigs and calves he had picked up dn,r- ing his career could only be guesSe1 1 at, but he was sized up as having talk en in his full share of this worlds goods.
 We were after his highness. Among our party was machinist, who had invented an internal machine. It was a clock work arrangement to ex- plode gunpowder, and we had been hunting for some autocrat, monopoly or tyrant to try it on. We looked upon the alligator as the personifca- ton of all three individualities and corporations, and we wanted to strike a telling blow for freedom.
 As soon as we discovered his hiding place, we dropped back to the river, and the machinist prepared his sur prise. The clock was set to run for half an hour, and the entire machine, properly charged, was encased in large neck piece Of beef brought from the hotel kitchen. The betf was wound with wire, and then we were ready.
 The idea was that the alligator made his home in the lagoon, and that he was not likely to leave it under or dinary circumstances. A negro was landed and sent through the bushes to scare the old monopolist out of his sleep and off the shore. This was a feat easily accomplished, although the reptile seemed mad and insulted as he took to the water.
 We then rowed into the lagoon, a stout fishline was tied to the beef, and we began trolling for alligators. Us ing the oars very softly, we rowed back and forth across the lagoon, with the beef drawn. along on the bottom. From the time the clock was set to the moment we entered the lagoon was full fifteen minutes. Somebody besides the alligator might get blown up. We had exactly eight minutes left when the machinist called out:
 "He's got itI He's got itl Pull for the shorep
 Somebody or something had grabb- ed the baited line with such eagerness that the man had to let go. He had taken the precaution to attach float, and as we stood on the shore we saw this float make a circuit of the lagoon. His royal nibbs had got it, and if that internal machine was of any good he would soon be made to feel real un- happy.
 We got back on rise of ground about thirty feet from the water and waited. The four or five minutes seemed twenty, and we were begin ming to despair, when the alligator sud denly preached like whale, and at the same moment the explosion took place. There was horrible muss. Meat and pieces of hide spattered the sand and bushes, and about half tho tail was blown thirty feet into a tree to lodge there The smell for the next ten minutes would have discounted all the skunks in Ohio, and we had to push back quarter of mile and wait for cold wave to carry it off.
 The internal machine was a success. It had exploded to the very minute. It had begun from way back in that alligator's system and given him a surprise party which tickled him to | doath