Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-10-24
KILLED BY TOBACCO.
a MonstrOus Shark That Chewed n Qui,
with disastrous Results.

A Monstrous Shark That Chewed n Ouid
with Disastrous Results.
In o short while we had caught a nice
mess OF small snappers, from ten to twenty
inches long, and were having a real good
time, writes correspondent of Garden and
Stream. We had not fished very long how
ever, before a large shark put in an APP
pearance and spoiled our sport. We first
knew of his presence by his greedily snap
ping off the fish from oze of my neighbors'
lines, having followed it up from the bottom.
He executed this performance several times,
and then the snappers stopped biting en-
urely Not even nibble could we get, so we
hauled IN our lines and commenced to pay
attention to the shark. He was a monstrous
fellow, about fifteen feet long, aud he kept
swimming round and round the vessel,
sometimes on top the water and sometimes
away down deep below us, but always at a
respectful distance His reddish brown
body could be plainly seen through the clear
transparent green water, and you may be
sure he was the cynosure of all eyes. A
great many plans for his capture were dis
cussed, but none appeared practicable with
In our limited means. The engineer sug-
gested that II the shark would give him
tllne, ne would forge proper hook and
cnaln, but as the shark was unable to give
HIM guarantee he abandoned the project.
While we were thus talking / noticed the
native pilot every now and then throwing
overheard one of the snappers we had so
recently caught. And as the current car
ried 1t little distance clear Of the vessel
the shark would gobble it down, and, In
fact, the intervals were so regular that Mr..
Shark seemed impatient when the regular
ity was broken by little delay We saw
that our pilot had some ultimate objest in
view, and IL drew our attention to him.
had not particularly noticed the man before
this; more than that he was fine looking,
dark-skinned man with good European
features, but evidently of mixed blood. As
he was born and raised on the coast, and
had probably served his pilots apprentice
ship as fisherman, he knew how to
deal with his inveterate foe, the shark.
Anyhow, we all thought 80 and gave him
credit for it, and, although he did not say
much, he went about 1t in very earnest
manner. After having thrown over ten
small fish he selected another q little
larger than the others, and with a stick Of
wood rammed a roll Of chewing tobacco
nearly as large as a mans hand down into
its belly and pressed its throat together
again. He held it ready to throw, and "a
the shark came up, anxiously looking for it's
hsh, he tossed il 10 him, and as 1t barely
touched the water the shark turned over
on its back and sucked it in, The shark then
swan OF as usual to the side Of the vessel,
and then below Us, and was apparently
rising again tn the expectation Of another
tish when the nicotine cc<nmenccd its work.
His struggles and contortions were hor-
ribie TO behold as he da-ted here and there
IN a Dlnd rage and vomiting blood, but as
nc swan, or was carried by the current
away from us, his struggles grew grad
uaiiy less, until it ceased altogether. The
tobacco had killed him.