Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-23
FOUGHT AN OCTOPUS.
A vERAclous SKIPPER TELLS OF AN ENCOUNTER WITH A MONSTER.


 ENCOUNTER WITH A MONSTER. Ssi r <-<ss---,sss- zIs
 rentacles Wound on the Windlsss-Tho
 Monster Hit a Porpolse and Was Set
 Upon by Boxing School, Which Finished
 Him.
 Captain Obadiah Donaldson has piled tho waters of tho sound for years and years, and no one has ever accused him of telling lie. If any ore else but Captain Donaldson had steamed into port with the yarn that he brought to Bridgeport, Conn.,, the other day, he would haye been publicly scoffed at. But Captain Obadiah has said 1t, and it goes.
 He came Into harbor with his steam oys- ter dredQer, which is a cross between n tugboat and mud scow, in search of coal. Five of his sailors then landed with thin substance looking very much like 100 feet of fro hose. This they laid out on the wharf Sea dogs assembled in convention over it, but shook their heads nonplused, being unable to make it out at all. Then Captain Donaldson spako in these words:
 "That, said he, lis the arm of an octo- pus, which can be easily verified. 1 take it that it's 100 feet long now, being as it's shrunb, but it was twice that length when we caught it..
 y"The fight in which we got 1t occurred shortly after 10 o'clock this morning. We were steaming five miles off Stratford light, were going four knots an hour, and we were in 15 fathoms of water. I was heading cast by southeast two points, and the wind was blowing north by northwest seven points, all of which can be verified.
 Suddenly on the starboard bow 800 feet ahead l spied huge mass, black and motionless, lying on the surface of the wa ter which was as smooth as a pond. I changed my course ono point and rang the bell for a full head of steam in order to hurry up and sec what the black thing was. soon made it out as an octopus, 60 feet i'll diameter, with arms and legs couple of hundred feet long.
 Fl didn't want any of that in mine. I brought tho wheel down to clear the mon- ster He was in deep slcep and his snores could be heard quite way off. But I was too late. The boat struck him amid ships. He awoke In a jiffy. At first ho thought we were a nightmare, but ho rub bed his eyes and identified us ns enemies, though heaven knows I had no wish to fight him.
 "He darted at us, kicking up the sea. One of his long arms came aboard and seized the forward steam windlass. He wound his arm around it, thinking, sup pose, that 1t was 0 sailor The mate, with great presence of mind started the wind lass, and in less time than it takes to tell it couple of hundred feet of the arm was wound in, and we had the fish prisoner.
 But we'd caught Tartar. He began to pull at the boat, and I was afraid he meant to sink it and eat us at his leisure. Tho vessel rocked, and I thought she would capsiZe every minute. 1 called to Frank Taylor tho boatswain, to cut of the arm, and he did so with n meat chopper.
 ''The octopus, thoroughly aroused, swan half a mile to leeward and crouched for a spring, but suddenly a distraction oc- cured. Three porpoises came along the pilot porpoise leading He ran right into the arms of the octopus, who seized him and held him high in the air and squeezed the life out of him. We could hear his bones crunching. Having killed the poor porpoise in his rage, he tossed him high in the air.
 "The other porpoises at once turned tail and swan to Penfield Reef light, favor ito feeding ground of these fish. They re- turned with an enormous swarm of DOT poises, all greatly excited and gnashing their teeth. Tho chums of the murdered porpoise evidently had made speech to them and got them worked up. They lined up likc football players and made a combined rush for the octopus, who gazed at them vioiously with his cruel, slimy eyes. It was an awful battle that followed.
 "The sea was lashed into a crimson foam. As the porpoises came within reach the octopus seized them in his arms and tossed them high in the air. As he had seven arms he pitched 'em up seven at a time. If VIC hadn't got that other hipper, it would have been eight at time. The see for moro than mile was strewn with tho fins and tails of porpoises and with bits of octopus Any fellow who wants n load of good fertilizer can get it there.
 ''I don't know how many porpoises wero killed. Eventually they did up the octopus, however, and in their anger tore him limb from limb. Then they all swam to their homes, and putinto Bridgeport. "-New York World