Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1888-03-13
Besicgcd by Dovilash.
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JEis nLrstuoS


The grea, noise and excitement kicked
up in Am.rie, whenever al octopus 10
captured seems queer enough 20 . sailor
who has yoyAsed 10 tropical countries
He /, by no mean. = rare ,ish, Ia warm
ATTITUDES. and the fac, thu, be il no,
dreaded. like the shark, ia because in.
stance. ate rare where be attacks man
do not believe the hideou, monster ever
attach. human beings from hunger.
The sea /. fall Of their .or, of food. aud
nature never expected them 20 prey on
the h'.h and bones Of a tough old salt
Ny experience With the terrible creatures
has also gone TO prove ,hs, they seldom
OF never attack person unle.. their
anger IL excited.
For over four years vas mate snd
master Of a.mall schooner plyi ins between
Spice Island. and Singapore Ia the inter.
e., Of an American trader. | 30 no,
think | made single trip wi,hou, seeing
from ope 10 dozen Of the horrible devil
d.h. Ons day 10 the Band. sea It fell
dead calm. and cauen, drified u' elos,
In upon an ISLAND 20 the north OF the Les
.er Timor. We ls, 10 the anchor IN =
little bay. and when the schooner
broush, up she was in twelve feet Of
water. and within hi,y fee, Of the beach.
A. the weather W. ho, the sailors ,lep,
on deck. there being one white man aud
five natives. Everything passed OF
quietly until jas, ia the gray Of morning.
when a terrible conmo,ion on deck roai.
"a me out. IL seemed that an octopus
bad era~led up the low eide Of the
schooner. pcrhap, to crafty i,' curiosity
bat seeing the sleeping men bad, perhaps
al.o 10 srA,iiy Il. eari0.i,y. hins feeler
Al one Of them snd taken such hold Of
hi, hand and arm ,ha, be woke With =
shout Of pain. The Others were sl'o
aroused, ani seeing whA, had happened
they .sired whatever weaPon' we're At
hand. and made the octopus release u.
hold came on deck ja,, a. !, fell into
the water alongside. aud the splash was
a. heavy - II man bad fAllea over.
board A portion Of the teeler which
bad srnped the sailor bad been broken
OF by the blows. There were three OF
four Zee, Of Il. aud for time !, 'quifm.
ed and twisted about the deck like
snake. /, had touched the man. hs.h
only in one ,poi on the back Of the hand.
bat be made a. much ado over 1, a. one
would a bulls, Ia the leg II wAsA ho'.
nble wound. however. The flesh was
puekeed up And bli,,sred, aud the 'Po,
~hsre the cup bad taken hold looked
like IN ,rysipel" ,ore. l, wsa a long
four weeks before the wound healed. and
tie scar lsf, closely re.embled that Of
burn.
| had the sailor 10 the cabin dressing
Ri. hand, aud /, was twenty minutes
after We bad beaten OF the octopus
when there ". another cry from the
deck. and | heard the men run forwArd
and tumble into the foree..,le And slide
the cover More from ihs,ins, than any
though, Of danger. closed the cabin
door. then the ,kylghi which lsh'ed
the cabin. There was . slide door IN the
foreea.,le bulkheAd communicating with
the hold, and also one from the cabin.
After two OF three minutes the sailors
came climbing over the eargo-we being
.bou, one-,hird fall-And | LEI them IN
10 the cabin. never saw . more fright
ened lo, Of men, aud could no, =, hr.,
believe the story they told. They said
,hA, when the octopus fell into the water
he swan off 10 the direction OF rocky
reef on our port quarter. aud distant
about 200 feet. After q few minutes
:he men noticed = considerable eommo-
ton in the water. and this gradually Ap.
preached. All =, once they made on,
i've or siI octopi At the vessels side, and
before they drew back and Tan away the
monsters we're throwing their feelers
over the los bll.AIks.
There's one Of EN-. sr-,here'
one :" shouted the mate AZ this momsnt,
and we turned our faces to the ,kylish,.
TO see three or four Of the horrible feel.
els playing over IL. A, the same mo-
men, the schooner va, ean,ed TO port
with a sudden pull Of all three ',re.s',
or with as much force asa .,rong put oi
wind would have exercised in open sea
At ,hi. movemen, all the natives brok,
out into = yell Of alright. aud, as
nernly rebuk.i them, ons Of them eI-
claimed
"oh. Captain, the devil fish have
come aboard. and no, one OF US ear
escape -
There was no longer any dOab, ,h,,
We were be.et by the creatures. There
va. no, q second in which the feelsr'
wsrs no, playing over the ,kyligh,, and
Others could be heard fastening to ahd
dragging things atou, the deck. As ,h'
entire sti,ir WAS sflsrward pat In wri,ine
sworn 10 by every man on board, and
left with the representatives OF the BIT
ish goyernmen, at Surabsya, Island o.
Java, | shall no, hesitate here to state
particulars. The noise on deck nigh
be likened to row between four OF five
men. Everything movable was beins
moved aud hang about. My skyhgh
had . hard wood frame and heavy gl,.
and ,h. feslsrs found very little to grasp
The noise made as the cups fastened e
the glass by suction and let go sgsiI
vas like the snap u apsir Of pineer'
Looking from the bulls eye in the stern
could see ,hs, the water Was ell In
ccmmO,ion. although there was no,
breath Of air outside.
/ had . dozen muske,s, ~ many pixies
several cu,lssses and nine or tea haiehet
In the cabin. This was the schooner
regular armament, for We were cOn,inu
ally among suspicious people. i let th'
men take their choice Of weapons. an