Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-07-11
Helena Montana Thursday, July II, 1882
A WHITE ALLIGATOR.
Some Mississippi Men Start Out to
Find 1t and 1t Finds Them.

Some Mississippi Men Start Out to
Find 1t and 1t Finds Them.
A large white alligator has been repeat
edly seen on Mrs. Wardloes place, five
miles from Yazoo City, Miss, Gays the st.
Louis Globe Democrat. This is the only
white alligator ever seen in the State.
About five years ago Mrs. Wardloe, who
conducts a stock farm, missed several of
her calves, and. almost every day some of
her stock would disappear. 1t was sup
posed at first that cattle thieves were at
work and close watch was kept. But the
calves continued to disappear, even while
the men were watching. One night the
supposed thief was discovered stealth
lily crawling, as it was thought by tie men,
on his hands in the grass. 1t was
moonlight and all that could be dis
tinguished was form moving from the
swamp toward calf. Suddenly it pounced
upon the animal and the men fired several
shots at it with rifles and closed in around
the fo. m, when it was found that the calf
thief was pure white alligator. The rep
tile succeeded in escaping to the swamp
and parties were organized to hunt it the
next day. They watched for its appearance
for a week, but couli see nothing of it un-
til one night about ten days after it was
first it seen. Several shots were fred at it
without effect, as the range was evidently
too long to hit the saurian in any vulner-
able part. A great many have tried it
since that time, but none have ever succeed
ed, and the white alligator is still master
of the swamp.
Before his appea- ance there were num-
Der of ordinary alligators, but with the ad-
vent of the white one the others made
themselves scarce, leaving him sole
possessor of the territory. 1t is not known
whether he has killed them or whether
they fled at his approach. He has con-
tinued his depredations, however, among
the cattle. and every possible means has
been tried to effect his destruction, but
without effect.
His size is unknown, as no one has ever
been able to get sufficiently near to him to
determine, except one luckless individual,
who was too badly scared to measure
him accurately and who thought
he was about as long as telegraph pole.
A party had been organized to hunt him
and he was seen to leave the swamp and
climb upon log at some distance from the
water. The swamp was surrounded and a
man named Drew, armed with trusty
rifle, Went between the gator and the
the marsh. The wicked suarian seemed to
appreciate the situation at glance and,
throwing up his upper jaw, started for
Drew at what seemed lightning speed. The
hunter became the hunted. He forgot to
shoot and did not have time to get out OF
the gators way. He started on the run
but it was evident that he never could
escape and his friends were horror
stricken at his impending fate when he
suddenly disappeared and the alligator
passed over him.
When the crowd became sufficiently
nerved to look for the missing man they
found that he had providentially fallen into
the stock well, which was at the edge of
the swamp and was twenty feet deep. The
hunter when discovered was standing up
to his waist in mud and water, but was
rescued by means of ropes without serious
injury. Since that time the reptile has not
been disturbed except at distance, and
bullets or slugs seem to have no effect on
him.
Owing to his peculiar white appearance
the negroes, it is said, entertain a peculiar
regard for the alligator, and will not men
tion him except with superstitious horror.
He is supposed to be a malignant spirit,
and the negroes believe that he will never
die and that it is impossible to kill him
without drawing upon themselves the
wrath of all evil spirits, who will revenge
themselves by visiting them with all man
ner of imaginable horrors Meanwhile the
fact remains that the cattle continue to
disappear and the reptile still lives.