Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-01-08
Naturally Tinld. sORstiAss They Be sOno EGrOSiouS 6aa Eatars-0nO Nights Work La Which
 Five Ware Killed.

So great has b0On the demand of fashion of late years for alligator skins that in some parts of the soUth the hunting of thaSS animals forms quito a prohts bls industry. Men hand them solves together in couples and in con- panies of half a dozen, proVisian their boats for a weeks or month's trip | and seek the wilder and more secluded streams and bayous.
 So thorough are such hunts and s9 crafty and cunning arc thS hpatsrs that locality that previously con tained from ten to fifty gators will At the closG of 8 hunt be either totally ds- populated, or at best. po&SosS but one or two cautious, wary old follows that are next to impossible to get visw of, to say nothing of near enough ap- proach for a shot.
 This mode of systematic hunting has had a tendency to make the alligator extremely rare in many sections of the 1 country, and to forever drive them away from some. They are queer, uncanny brutos, and few facts in regard tS them may prove interesting
 To begin with stories of alRgato~s measuring fourteen and sixteen feet in length may safely be paA down as ex- aggarat&ouG I doubt if saaAh . eae exi~tsc twelve feet fs tremep&M4S siaa; and rarely, very rareaSr TASF fWn tS l twelve aesrd haF.
 heTe measured alltgntors innumer- able, and fully uinsty-eiGht per cent run from nins to AlAven and g hsk feet. So SearcS is one AttAining the my ythica1 fourtSen feet tha& a row@A& of five hundred dollars for oa4 of this size has been unclaimed tE the laat twenty year..
 The part of the skin used for com mercial purposes is cut freAn 2 line along tho S1o, just whore the hSax9 scales begin, and includes the aides and belly, the back being 90 tough as to be utterly worthless and alm0Sk ina perv1ous to rife ball.
 In fact the two vulperable points are the eyes and just behind the fore leg, while ball SAriking his coca Of arRcr in any but diVeeA line will glance GR @@ If from . metal p1&ka.
 Although deni1oGs of the W4tow, they have the moat ahjeet horror 6 raln. and no sooner docs the hHsa AatAG sprinkling mHnifeSt itself than, plung- ing from the bank or log, thW SlsA dry quarters beneath the surf1Sa. SA warm, sunny days they 6Nsk oR kAa banks for yourS, but ovNa W&Aa ssos4a it is unusual to seN onN.
 As 8 rule tI1oy confns theRAaS1R tr what nature has provided for food 0o casionnlly varying their dict with q stray deor or calf, but At times tAsg become mSn-e4tArs, and are tAoz torrorH to all. Like tho tiger, A&ziaa once tasted Human flesh, thAy pro&uS ii to rything else, and with wStcA Sul eye envy all who come within roaoh.
 At times the community oreaaieaa and institutos regular siege. which sooner or later ends in capture.
 It was my pleasure in tho winkar O1 'ST-SS. together Ut+h & friand, to ba more or less Intimately AssocIated wisA a party of alligator huntNrS on the up per St. Johns river iR Fl04dA, anS upon ono or two occasions ts partaa pate in soms remarkable huntA
 We wore enUmPsd on . ALarwiaa little creek b~nsa&A 8 grOua @ HL mettos milo or unors from De aSsr l and for some wOsks past had been In vostlgSting the bird life of tho sur
 rounding region AlliSGtors M0ro pSr
 ticularly numeroua. and tholr poazfASl l and bellowinGs could bs hoard aa ath nights from crooks and slouxhs fvt miles distant.
 One dark night just as we vazG about to turn in hKight light eaanG suddenly around the bend and . boa with three mon, armed and aRnippst
 for "'gator ahootin'," pulled up to Ou
 camp, They proved to hO just ou
 from Ncluria, and. an accident havius , happened to their coffee can, they hat Il come up to borrow of us.
 - They informed us of their intentio, 6 of remaining in the neighborhood fo |, some time and extended cordial invi
 tation to join them in the chase.
 There are two modes of alligato l hunting. First. and best of all, is fire l lighting or fire-jacking; second, b, r floating in the daytime. For the frs 7 a strong reflector light is placed in tn 7 bow of the boat and provided with Q dark slide or door; the man who is t. !, shoot for the evening sits directly be hind it, while his companions propa the boat
 f Tho light, flashing full ia the ani D malls face, appears to blind him an, l make him insensibls to all dGnsSr, bu t the slightest soond proceeding fxau : tho boat h Gufioiont to arouse hina
 Nearer and nearer thS boat eseAn ,, until the distance is . minimum, whoi the rihemSn, taking . oax0fa1 airr | pours murderous dlschargs iatO tA most available part of hiS body.
 Thosc killed at night arc pulled Sw 5 on the beach and skinned the AwlloW
 tng day, while thoaS killed in the daz
 time are usually skinned cn the svI
 The second method of hoN6inx eos
 Hists of stealing softly within raaEs c
 q sleeping gator by day. To is Q df1I
 cult thing to no, and, on the WhWi1