The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1886-05-07
A SENATOR IN PERIL
A Lie Worth Repeating
Correspondent Baltimore Herald.

Senator Cameron, of West Vir
ginia, has just returned from brief
soiourn in Florida whittier he went
to seek relief from Senatorial over
WORK. He is chockfull of stories
about the adventures he had in the
land of orange blossoms. "One
day." he said, ~ went out hunting
alone. OF course, I'm not the man
to brag about my skill as hunter,
but, between you and me, I'm no
slouch with II gun. After killing q
few deer, one or two bears, thirty
or forty squirrels and dozen wild
turkeys, l concluded to return TO
the hOdeI: 1t was still early, but !
was tired packing round my load of
game. l was going along the bank
of a creek, and coming across a
friendly log | thought would sit
down and rest. laid my rife and
game down by the log and took a
seat. had a lunch OF cold chicken
in nv haversack. l had breakfast
ut daylight and was pretty hungry;
40 took out the chicken and began
to eat. When l had finished my
repast / took the pocket knife
had been using to cut the chicken,
and drove the blade into the log,
intending to let it rest there until
could get out my pocket handker-
chief aud wipe my hands. But,
great Scott! You ought to have
seen that log! 1t was the most
sensitive log ever saw. When /
drove my knife into it, quicker than
lightning it bumped itself like a
bucking mule and gave me a flap
with its little end that sent me
sprawhng about 80 feet away.
Blame my buttons il that log WASN'T
a Florida alligator % feet long,
with a tail like cross cut saw and
teeth as sharp and long as tusks OF
boar.
"When scrambled to my feet
and looked at the log-I mean the
alllgatOr-there it Was, standing
rampant on it's foot, with eyes glar-
ing aud it's teeth grinding savagely
together. / dared not run, tor l
was told never to run from an ALL
gator. as he would be sure to pur.
sue and overtake me. So l stood
tlansfixed to the spot. What did
the alligator dol Keeping bis gaze
fixe,l steadily on me, he deliberately
backed to my pile of game
and niiched in. First he ate up the
bears, then the deer. Smacklng
his chops like regular boarding
house hash eater, he turned on the
squirrels and Wild turkeys. and
when he got through there wasn't 4
hair or feather to be seen. I'll
undertake to say that no alligator
ever before had such a rare ban.
0uet. How the alligator held all
that feed don't understand, but he
did. When he got through there
wasn't thing left but my rifle, and
he nosed around that for a few sec
Onds as if he intended to eat that
too. but he didn't. What did he
do theng Well, sir, that alligator
deliberately turued his tail to the
bank aud keeping his eye on me
backed to the edge. Then with Z
snort and below, lie plunged tai
foremost into the water. | got my
rife in the fraction of a second
rushed to the edge and looked
doNu. / was painting for revenge
| but couldn't see anything but
succession of waves impelling eacl
other toward the other shore. TIT
alligator was at the bottom of thu
stream. ] stayed there an hou
watching for him, but he was to-
sharp to come to tue surface. be
YOU he's got that knife of min
sticking in his back yet, for drov
1t in pretty deep. You see, the all
gator was sound asleep when l wa
sitting on him, but sticking tn
knife in him woke him up"