The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-06-29
THE KILLER WHALE.
A Blood-Thirsty Monster Of the
North Sea-
Submarine Butchers Who Devour Mum
bers Of Their Own Families and
Regard Man IS Tooth
some Morsel.

Regard Man rs Tooth
Some Mcrsel.
The shark Of the lower ATTITUDES Is
still often honored with such names as
the ''sea tiger" or the terror of the
ocean" The Spitzbergen fishermen
would find more appropriate use for
the latter epithet Seals, PROPOSES and
even white whales have been known to
spring out Of the water and run ashore
to avoid the attacks of creature
which, in proportion to its size, is GER
tainly the most voracious of all marine
beasts of prey. 1t is the orca or killer
whale, (orca gladiator), close relation
of the delphinid@, but as superior in
strength to the southern porpoise as q
walrus is to seal The orca reaches q
length OF twenty-five feet, and its jaws
are bristling with teeth from four to
six inches long and as sharp as dirk
knife. Single specimens have been seen
Of thirty tCapt- Ross says thirty-fve)
feet, and fully able to devour q sea lion
with few quick snaps
Its digestive power, says the Chicago
Herald, is proportioned to the tremen-
dous efficacy of Its jaws Prot Eschrichs
examined specimen that had been
killed in shallow water, and found in
its stomach thirteen PROPOSES and four.
teen seals, and the "atrocious glutton,"
he adds, seemed to have got choked in
the attempt to swallow q fifteenth, I"
since its gullet proved to be DISTRACTED
by an intertwisted mass Of seal boneA
Capt Wicks describes the battle be-
tween Baleen whale and . swarm Of
orcas that jerked the big monster about
as pack Of dogs would worry fat
SOW. They few at it's tanks, snapped
big pieces out of it's lips, and finally
hauled 1t under, while q surge of blood
stained foam bespoke the consummatiou
of the submarine butchery.
"These demons will pursue theh
largest relatives and pursue them like
raging hounds" says DR.. James Murie,
who POUNDS his study of the whale fam
lily on years of personal observation
elm ono instance they assaulted Cali
fornia gray whale and her young. Tho
orcas killed the latter and sprang on
the mother, tearing away large pieces,
which they greedily devoured. Orcas
painted herring boat, installing it for
beluga, and they will not hesitate to
lay hold Of harpooned whales and drag
them perforoe under water"
The orca is also known as the GreeG-
land grampus, and a good deal Of con-
troversy about its murderous propensi-
ties has been caused by the fact that
some writers have COMPOUNDED it with
its small relative, known as Rino's
grampus tphocena grisea), compare
lively harmless creature, found along
the east shores of the Atlantic. from st.
Helena to Scotland, while the orca is
seldom seen south Of the fortieth par
allel, and is found in shoals only near
Spitzbergen and the east coast Of
Greenland.
Compared with that marine werewolf
even the shark is rather sluggish
brute, though he is apt to offset his lack
of speed by cunning and patience. Tho
white shark of the tropics will hang
about wharves for days and haunt bath
ing places, rarely betraying his pres
ence by premature gambols. Near SIM
gapore boats manned with lancers and
kettledrums cruise about the docks be-
fore bathers venture to enter the water,
and in the harbor of Havana q man was
nipped up a year ago under circum-
stances which seem to prove that ordi-
nary precautions do not always avail
against the cunning of a veteran "man
eater"
A stout mestizo, employed in down.
town livery stable, came to the beach
with a couple of horses, and after let
ting them splash about in the shallow
water for a minute or two rode in
deeper to give them chance to cool off.
A number of promenaders on the beach
were watching the horses, when sud-
denly, to their horror, they saw big
shark rise out of the water, seize the rid
er's leg and draw him down before he
had time to utter more than a single
shrek. The water near the scene OF
the tragedy was not more than waist
deep, but the whole thing was done SO
quickly that attempts at rescue were
though the witnesses in
stantly rushed into the water, swinging
their sticks and yelling away with
might and main.
Like most sluggish creatures sharks
are extremely tenacious of life. Tor
toises of several species will live for
hours after being beheaded. but show
the effects Of the operation by sitting
almost perfectly still or slowly moving
their forelegs as if trying to ward off
an unseen foe. Decapitated sharks, on
the other hand, will continue to use all
their tail muscles with destructive
force, and in the water have been
known to swim about as II nothing IN
usual had happened, until their vitality
became exhausted by loss of blood.
Sir Emerson Tenant describes q
rather inhuman experiment Of that
sort in the ohing of Trincorale, Cey-
lon, where crew of enraged sailors
.ashed white shark to the gunwales,
its head and flung it over
board
The water was perfectly clear and
not very deep. and the headless swim
ner was seen to swim slowly about
Tor nearly two hours, when its move
nents gradually became imperceptible,
and it settled on the graveny bottom,
is tail limp or stirred only By the roll |
ng Of the breakers
A large shark can snap of the leg Of |
. horse as easily as carrot, its biting |
,nnaratI1s heinz, entirelr different frr,rra