Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-10-01
CRIPPLED BY AN OCTOPUS

y
case in the Smithsonian Institution in
closing specimen of the octopus aud
not feel your flesh crawl you have
more nerve than most men. As one
looks over those long. hairy arms,
each one provided with suckers at
every Joint; rs one notices the cruel
beak and looks into the wicked staring
eyes he instinctively shrinks away. rs
if the dead monster still had power to
harm.
We were off the Florida coast gath
ering sponges. In those days-and
the practice is still pursued by the
poorer class of -gatherers-we
got our sponges in anchoring our small
sloop or schooner over the bed and
then diving from her rail to the bottom
of the sea, carrying weight along to
sink us faster. A good pair of lungs
and years of practice finally enabled
me to reach bottom in thirty or thirty
five feet of water and come up with
more or less of haul.
On that warm coast the shark aud
the octopus and other horrible things
belonging 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 without sharp knife in my belt
to give any proving shark a thrust,
but later on would take header off
the rail when shark dorsal fin was
cutting the water not hundred yards
away.
During the second season we lost
two men by sharks. but took no pre-
cautions and had no narrow escapes.
In the beginning of the third season
we anchored over splendid bed, in
location we'll sheltered from storm and
swell, and we had reason to anticipate
profitable catch.
There were four of us on that trip,
and the first man over the rail was an
old diver named Peterson. This was
about z o'clock in the morning, and
although we had been up for two
hours the bay had been clear of sharks.
We watched Peterson 60 over, but we
watched in vain for him to come up.
Twenty seconds passed-then thirty
rail and cried out
|
down there and is goner!'
We waited ten seconds longer and
then felt sure That we should never see
the old man alive. We were in TWEEN
ty-eight feet of water. and the trawl
showed the bottom to be clear of
weeds and made up of rock and sand.
1t was hard to guess what had happen
ed. He might have bumped his head
against rock, or had his foot caught
in a crevice--he might have burst n
blood vessel or been taken with
cramps. None of us thought of an oc-
topus in connection with his sad fate
We had seen small one three DAYS
before, and we knew that the creatures
lurked in the still waters but some
how we speculated on all theories but
this.
As you may imagine, the loss of old
Peterson upset us, and it was a good
half hour before any of us had rallied
our courage. 1t was my next turn
down, and as finally got ready TO go
the captain handed me long, keen
shark-knife on which he had just put
an edge. accepted it, more in hopes
it might be useful in enabling me to
/ StuQ up luo uciu UOu1 lHdu through
any bodily fear If Peterson had been
caught in creyice. or was held fast by
marine plant, the knife would loosen
him.
Well, over went at last, and it was
only few seconds before l struck bot
tom close to large rock. Sponges
were growing all around me, and as /
reached out Tor the nearest felt some-
thing 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 feel
ing had passed from my shoulders to
my waist, and in another second il
was in my legs. 1t was not until
tried to spring away that realized my
situation. At the first move / was
jerked in the most violent manner to-
wards the rock, aud the burning in
creased tenfold.
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 blsteredl
How the hairy arms gripped and
twisted!
tell you l was frightened man,
and for several seconds forgot that |
had knife in my belt. When l final
ly reached for it the octopus had
dragged me into the shadow of the
rock, and there l saw old Peterson S
body. Two of the creatures arms
were around it and | was to make a
second 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
reptile. In fact, the arms were draw
ing me within reach of his beak. l did
not slash at the arms, but struck
straight at the jelly-like body. | had
then been down SO long that my ears
were roaring and | realized that had
only few seconds to spare. Luck
guided my blows and slashed at the
creature until pieces of the body float
ed around me and the arms let up on
their grip. Then started for the sur
face, and | reached it about as near
dead as man could be and have any
life left. They pulled me inboard, and
with me came the three terrible arms
which had been cut from the body.
Not sucker would loosen its grip,
and they had to cut them off with
knives, one by one. close to my flesh.
Effects? 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
fire burn, and the remembrance OF
the situation down there will start a
chill over me in the hottest day. The
serpent and crocodile and shark are
terrible enough, especially when they
have you at Il disadvantage, but don'i
you get within reach of an octopus
never!-Detroit Free Press.
Methods of Hanging.