The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-24
FEEDING GOLD TO SHARKS.
After the Monster Had Swallowed
$4,000 He Was Satisfied.
From the Buffalo EXDress.

From the Buffalo Express.
Il suppose" quoth James Z. Gaulin of
Winchester, Mass, who was sitting on the
hotel veranda, that ] had the honor of
killing the most valuable fish that ever
swan the seas. ! did it single-handed,
too. l aver that this fish was worth more
at his death than the finest sperm whale
that was ever harpoOned, although we
should really leave whales out OF the ques-
ton when talking of fish. 1t was thirty
years aSo and was young and foolish
enough to be a deep sea diver. Our div
ms schooner and crew had been sent TO
Cuba to try to recover some stuff from
Spanish boat that had foundered Off the
coast of Cuba, just where l don't now
recollect. 1t was quite a long trip for us
and, as the employment Of diving OUTFIT
was an expensive thing in those days the
boys knew that there must be something
pretty valuable in the hold of the wreck.
l was quite close to our skipper and he
told me that there were several boxes
of gold coin in the wreck. On our arrival
at the port near where the wreck lay in
thirty feet of water the agent Of the own
ers OF the sunken schooner told US some
thing more surprising. IL was that the
gold had not been slowed in boxes in the
cabin, as was usual, but for some reason,
had been bagged and placed in the hold,
being billed as copper washers. This was
probably a scheme to avoid any chance
OF the spirit of cupidity arising in the
crew, for the treasure was very great.
LAS the confidential man, / was select
ed TO so down first and find the money
bags, attach lines to them and have them
taken out before the other divers should
proceed with the work of taking out the
other freight that the water had not
harmed. / was soon in the hold and was
surprised to find that the bags were only
a little distance from the hole in the side
that had caused the schooner to founder.
/ had been told that there would be
twelve bags, but / could lay my hands
ON but eleven of them. Finally ! spied
a torn bag lying near the hole in the hull
and on picking it up discovered that
it contained a few gold coins. I decided
that the heavy triple sacking had been
torn open some way or other when the
schooner sunk. / fastened these about
the eleven bags that were intact and had
them hoisted, afterward going up for
air, for our apparatus was not very good.
In few minutes l returned to the
hold to search for the scattered coins.
Very few of them We're in sight. 1T oc-
Cured to me that they might have been
washed outside the boat, judging from
the position of the wreck, and the fact
that the hole was far down towards the
ships bottom l was about to crawl out
of the hole, when / remembered IL might
hazard the air pipe, so / pulled up and
let down again over the vessels side. I
was disappointed not to find any indica-
tons of gold near the hole in the schoon-
er, but set to work digging resolutely Ia
the sand. / had gone but a foot down
when / struck the gold pieces all in
lump. / picked up a great handful and
TURNED the light on them, for ! was a
lover of gold then, even though it did
not belong to me
Just then I saw something that made
the rubber helmet rise from my head.
1t was a man-eating shark. | hadn't
thought of one in so long that | had
neglected to bring my knife. 1t was
rushing at me The stupid creature never
stopped to consider that with a rubber
and lead dressing a diver makes poor
lunch. l was kneeling beside the gold.
At the sharks onslaught / naturally
huns to the handful of gold as though to
use it as a weapon. He turned on his
side, opening his horrible mouth. A feel
ing of grim humor had gone over me.
The cruel gold bugs had sent me down
here to be deVoured, after saving thou
sands Of dollars for them j would be a
spendthrift at the last So with all my
force l flung the heavy handful Of gold
into the yawning mouth.
THE shark must have thought it was
a part of me, for he snapped his jaws
over the golden morSel. / am satisfied
that he broke some teeth. He swan back
had no weapon but the gold, so again
/ flung into the hideous nav enough to
buy me a home in New England. saw
him snap and swallow it, Again and
again was the attack repeated, and as
often did l hurli gold into the sharks
throat. Pretty soon he became dizzy, as
him, settling in the forward part of his
body. Then he Writhed in agony and L
had to keep lodging his furry. Then with
one terrible shudder he sunk to the bot
tom weighed down by the gold. | tied
a line about him and then gave the sig
nal to be pulled up. Then | helped hoist
the shark. We cut him open. Gentle
men, you must take the word of an ex-
diver that there was $4,000 in him. Gold
had killed him"
Silence smeared itself all over the We
randa. The pale moon slid behind a
cloud The ampitheater organ slowly
wove a weird chunk Of melody The
chimes began to ring. Those were
great days" said Mr. Gaulin, sadly