Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1886-02-06
I \ BIG ALLIGATOR.
Novel Manner OF Dc5ti al1C
the Saurian.
Trolling for the Reptile with an Internal
Machine for Bait.

The story of the pursuit and de-
struction Of a huge alligator is told as
follows in a Florida letter to the New
York Sun: We found him after a
three DAYS hunt Just above the
mouth Of a creek flowing into the It.
Johns river was a small bay or Ia
COON, and as we rowed softly into this.
we caught sight of him.
He was the Biggest ugliest-looking
alligator ever seen In the state of Flor
ida. He was two-thirds out Of water
Oh the sandy shore, and on that part
Of his body thus exposed we could see
the marks of a dozen bullets. 1t was
evident, from his size and wrinkles,
that he was an old deniZen-a boss
among a~lligators. How many darkies,
pigs and calves he had picked up dur
ing his career could only be guessed
at, but he was sized up as having TAX
en- in his full share Of this worlds
goods.
We were after his highness. Among
our party was a m%achinist, who had
invented an Internal machine. 1t
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 ~personifica'
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 machinlst prepared his sur
prise. The clock was set to run for
half an hour, and the entire machine.
properly charged, was encased in u
large neck piece of beef brought from
the hotel kitchen. The beef 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
binary circumstances. A negro was
landed and sent through tn 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 tegan trolling for alligators. U.s.
ing the oars very softly, we rowed back
and forth cross 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:
Hes got it. He's got it. Pull for
the Shore"
Somebody or something had grabb-
ed the baited line with such eagerness
that the man had to let 60. He had
taken the %precaution to attach a 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 tina,
Internal machine was of any good he
would soon be made to feel real un.
happy.
We got back on a rise of ground
about thirty feet from the water an(
waited. The four or five minutes
seemed twenty. and we were begin
ming to despair, when the alligator sud
denly preached like a whale, and at tn,
same moment the explosion took place
There was a horrible muss. Meat an,
pieces of hide spattered the sand AM
bushes. and about half the tail wa
blown thirty feet into a tree to lodg
there. The smell for the next tel
minutes would have discounted all tn
hunks in Ohio, and we had to pus1
back a quarter of a mile and wait 70
a cold wave to carry it off.
The Internal machine was a success
1t had exploded to the very minute
1t had begun from way back in tina
%alligator'S System and given him
surprise party which tichled him t
death.