, 1885-10-27
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Thoy were talking about alligaturs. \
we'll known matchmaker OF har.csiown
laid down his Instruments. pushed his
eye ,glasses up on his forehead aud sad
Talk about cunning, ! tell you its
livel, sport shooting alligators, They re
saucy critters. and dangerous ones. ton
A numbe Of years ago / was in Jackson
vile. tla. on board tho schooner carrie
Walker. my brother. John Nc arand.
being captain of tho craft We were
hauled up at SCOTS saw.mill. loading
with lumber. Old Scott as we used TO
call him. could swear the bark
OIL n southern pine tree. There
were two alligators under the
mill. and wo wanted to shoot them
Old Scott swore we shouldn't. for. said
he. they've been under my mill for sew
eral years, and they'r my pets One
morning Il negro boy, whose father worked
in the mill was fishing from the wharf.
when one Of the alligators caught him by
the leg and pulled him under the water.
That was the last Of tho boy. some one
told Scott about IL, but he wouldn't have
the ~alligators hurt The next day SCOTS
nephew. a young boy whom the old man
dearly loved, vas fishing from the same
wharf when he was caught by one OF the
alligators and devoured. When Scott
heard Of the fate of his nephew he was
beside himself with rage. Rushing into
the mill he shouted Every man stop
work and go aud kill them alligators
under the mill. Not n stick of timber
will be sawed here till them cussed crit
tiers are dead I'll pay every man just
the same us though the mill was run.
ming. Them cussed alligators have eat
my boy D.,
Every mar quit work. and armed
with sticks axes. shot-guns. and pistols,
began war on the alligators. On the
third day the crocodiles were killed. On
opening them only q few small pieces Of
cloth and several buttons were found
The death of the boy was a hard blow to
Scott. and he never could forget the sad
affair. Alligators are very tricky. For
instance a flock of geese will alight on u
river. and soon you will observe an alli-
gator some distance off. stick his nose out
of water and look about him. The next
time you see him his head is poked up
among the geese They can measure
distance to a dot
81 was on board u schooner on the
Mississippi one time. when ! noticed a
man and woman in n small boat crossing
the river. / also observed an alligator
push his nose out of water. The man in
the boat saw the crocodile too. for he he
1 KAN W lAAAiuoG AA1 hAhiR0 vi 1 ONho
with his oars. Again the alligator came
to the surface. He was nearer the boat
than when first seen. The man increased
his speed. When the alligator showed
himself again he had shortened the dis
lance between himself and the boat. The
man now exerted himself for all he was
worth. for it was a race of life or death.
Fortunately the shore vas near. The boat
touched lane nj last, but rs 1t did the
man and woman got up and ran. The
latter had not left the boat when the ALI
gators nose appeared over the stern. and
a coat upoE which the woman had been
sitting. was lifted from The seat and with
the crocodile disappeared beneath the sur
face OF the water Had the man been
half a minute later in reaching the shore
the woman would have lost her life.
"Alligators when wounded in the water
will take 10 land You have got TO know
how to shoot them. | always fire into
the mouth. Stand in front Of the critters
for their tails are powerful. and with
them they can fell an OK or n horse. Tho
hides of these alligators arc exceedingly
tough