The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-02-20
EXPERIENCE WITH ALLIeAToRs
when an Old Saw-NIm Man Lost His Tenn
psr-A Race For Life.
boston Globe

psr-A Race For Life
Boston GIobe.l
They were talking about slligators. A /
well known matchmaker of CharleStown !
laid down his instruments, pushed his |
eglasses up on his forehead, and said: |
Talk about cunning, l tell you it's !
lively sport shooting alligators. They're
saucy critters, and dangerous ones, too
A number of years ago l was in Jackson
vile, Fla, on board the schooner Carrie
Walker, my brother, John McF arland,
being captain Of the craft We were
with lumber. Old Scott as we used to
call him, could swear the bark
off a southern pine tree. There
were two aligators under the
mill, and VIC 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're my pets One
morning a negro boy, whose father worked
in the mill, was fishing from the wharf,
when one of the alligatOrs caught him by
the leg and 'ulled him under the water.
That was the last of the boy. Some one
told Scott about it. but he wouldn't have
the alligators hurt The next day SCOTS
dearly loved, was 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 and kill them ailigatois
| under the mill. Not stick of timber
! will be sawed here till them cussed crit
tiers are dead. I'll pay every man just
the same as though the mill was run
ming. Them cussed alligators have eat
my boyi" 5
with sticks, axes. shot-guns, and pistols,
! m the allipatOrS On the
third day the crccodiles were killed On
opening them only few small pieces of
cloth and several buttons were found
The death of the boy was 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
river. and soon you will observe an ALI
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
Mississippi one time, when / noticed a
man and woman in a small boat crossing
the river I also observed an alligator
push his nose out of water. The man IN
the boat saw the crocodile too for he be-
gan to increase the number of strokes
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
3 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 race of life or death.
Fortunately the shore was near. The boat
= touched land at last. but as it did the
t man and woman got up and ran. The
, latter had not left the boat when the ALI
p gators nose appeared over the stern. ano
q coat, upon which the woman had beer
; sitting, was Eited from the seat and will
), the crocodile disappeared beneath the sur
face of the alter. Had the man beer
o half a minut,. later in reaching the shore
the woman would have lost her life.
=, "Alligators when wounded in the waite
II will take to land You have got to know
Y how to shoot them. | always fire int
e the mouth Stand in front of the critters
# for their tails are powerful, and wit
= them they can fell an OK or a horse. Th
hides of these alligators are exceedingly
fOl1ph