The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1889-05-02
STORIES OF THE SHARK
Which Flavorespe cfded Oily 5sof Num-
VSs7sT sssia ~ 4kdR
chausenism
But Are iii the Main Undoubtedly True
Some Dreadful What Has
Been Found In tho Fish's
stomach.

Been Found In the Fish's
stomach.
Shark stories have SO long formed the
staple Of sailors yarns, that, like the
provcrbial legends regarding snakes,
Z they have in most eases come to be
regarded by untrayeled people ,ass
recently issued history of American
fishes, prepared by Government com
mission, the writer's give it as their
deliberate opinion that the cases in
which men have been attacked by
these sea wolves are extremely rare.
This, we fear, will not be the verdict
of those who have familiar acquaint-
ance with the tropics, and it is assured
.--ly not the view entertained by a corre=
spondent whose letter was recently
published in the London Telegraph,
says that journal. A few weeks ago
q sailor engaged in scrapfng the sides
of a troop ship in tho harbor of Sierra
dragged into the water and
promptly dexoured hy@4one- of The.
: swarm Of Sharks which finfcst that.
locality.-A boatman- has -been~bitteH
in the short time it took to dip up
pitcher of water while his craft was
under full sal, and we are assured
that it is nothing uncommon for these
!. ravehous fish to spring a foot out OF
the sea to secure their prey. For
miles they veil follow vessel, on the
Z outlook for any stray unfortunate who
may tumble or be thrown overheard,
and yet so deeply do they swim under
the surface that it requires the prac-
ticed eyes ofthe natives to detect their
presence. Many OF the West India
harbors- are so haunted by the white
= and hammerheaded sharks-the least
amiable OF one hundred and fifty differ
ent kinds known to zoologists-that
it is dangerous to bathe even a few
yards FROM he-shpfe theHt- stH--etft--
look being posted. Hence, the well
known tradition Of ''Port Royal Tom
being on the payroll of the flagship in
that harbor may be founded on fact
for as no seaman would dare to swim
ashore with watchdog of this kind
! ins the vicinity, few pieces of junke
might have been judiciously expended
to keep such. "a deterrent against de-
sertion around the vessels. Escape is
almost impossible. clumsy as the fish
is, and once in the grasp of its rows of
lancet-like teeth, the victim who pur-
chases life with the loss of AN arm or
a leg may regard himself as unusually
lucky.
K Yet the West African negro has been
KNOWN to face thesbrute, not only with
Ampuhi0y, but even to come eff as a.
victor in the end. All but amphibi-
Gus, the swimmer cautiously APP
proaches his enemy, and then, just at
themoment when the great fish turns
owl to seize him-his mouth being so
placed that this s,necessary-the dar-
ing black plunges his knife into its
belly. The pearl divers are also some-.
times successful in their attacks on
sharks which try to seize them, though,
it is needlesssto add, such q mode of
combat is possible only when the mon
sters do not come In numbers, and I'M
e..
requires GOODNESS, dexterity and a
courage which are not TO be acquired
except by long experience in such
perilous encounters As d rule, how
ever, it is seldom that a man who
is so luckless as to; drop among
sharks ever. appears again. There
is shrek, a white outline
isN soon under the surface. and
"A fin above it, reddened crest tops
the next swell which breaks against
theNship's side, and the horror-stricken
seamen know that their messmate will
be seen no more. Butthe shark does
not vanish. On the contrary the appe-
tite thus isharpened encourages it to
follow in the wake of the vessel, so
that the tales of man-eating monsters
having beer hooked weeks after such
-4za-tragedy as that noted, with there-
mains of tho missing men still in their
stomachs, are not to be dismissed as
fctions 1t is we'll ascertained fact
that the skeletons OF sheep, pigs, dogs
and cattle, which have fallen or been
: thrown overheard, have been recov-
cred in the manner indicated, many
days subsequent to their being swal-
lowed. and tits on record that in the
A. stomach of shark killed in the Indian
ocean a lady's work box was found.
. while in another the incriminqory
papers which had been thrown Hway
by a hotly-chascd SLAYER wer% re-
covered from the NAV OF an involun-
tary witness thus curiously brought
into court on tho barb of pork-baited
hook. Ruyseh, one of the most trust
worthy Of the old naturalists, affirms
that Il man in mail-homo lericatus,
he calls him-was found in the
stomach OF white shark, and II Is
,---neesaaed s-by Bfumenbaeil that ~ia one"
case ~ whole horse was found. II Is
undeniable that many have been killed
with ample capacity for suoh undesir-