Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-05-22
TURTLES THAT FOUGHT.
Two Fishermen Interfere With Novel
and Desperate Battle.

IL Il no uncommon thing for swapping
turtles to be brought into any of the
towns OF Pennsylvania. On the con-
trary. snapper fishing or hunting is
sport peculiar to the region. hundreds
of the big turtles being captured in vari-
Gus ways every week Of the season. But
it is uncommon for swapping turtles 10
be brought in just the way that two were
brought into Fishers Eddy few days
ago. The two turtles were very large
ones, and one had its jaws closely tightly
on the left foreleg Of the other. and In
that position they were captured by John
and James Skelly under the following
circumstances:
The two Skely boys were fishing In the
eddy from a fiat-bottomed boat, when
they saw a great commOtion In the water
a few rods distant. They padded toward
the spot. and saw that the commotion
was being made by two big swapping
turtles which were engaged In a desperate
fight. They rushed at one another
and came together with a shock that
made them both rebound a yard or more
and threw the water about In showers.
AS they darted around each other-these
animals being exceedingly agile and
quick in the water, although SO clumsy
and slow on the land-they made savage
iuUStS WITH lntlT nedtS at one ,
legs. the evident effort OF each being
TO seize the other at a Vulnerable point.
The collisions and fierce manoeuvres
lasted several minutes without either tur-
tie obtaining az advantage. when sud-
denly one of them dashed through the
water toward his antagonist. who waited
the onslaught. his yellow eyes glaring
and his massive head thrust forward to
seize his aSsailant II pOssible
When the latter was within a foot or
so Of the waiting turtle he diNed Ike a
fash and came up under his foe, and, be-
fore the latter could ward off the uneN-
pected attack, closed his jaws on one Of
his fore legs. near the shell. The strug-
giles Of the turtle thus caught foul to
free itself were so desperate that the
water was lashed into foam. and in u
short time became colored with blood.
a swapping turtle never releases It's hold
on anything IT may close its jaws on until
that object Is dead. and the efforts OF this
turtle to release Itself from his foe were
not only unavaling. but tended to place
him at still greater disadvantage by wear
ing out his strength. When the specta-
tors OF this novel battle saw that there
could be no question as To it's result they
set about capturing both duellists. They
padded close to where the turtles were
struggling, and, watching their opportu-
nifty, each man seized turtle by its tail
and lifted both into the boat before the
turtles knew what was going on. The
fishermen were by no means pleased with
what they had done. though. Tor the
/ fight went right on, and the boys were
compelled to take a hand in it TO MAIN
tain place for themselves in the boat.
With the boat paddle and one of the seats
they pounded the turtles on their head >
/ until both were stretched on the bottom
Of the boat The jaws Of the one were
still tightly closed on the leg Of the other.
and remained SO for ten hours after the
head was cut Oft