The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-08-02
RILLED A BIG ALLIGATOR.
The Saurian Was More Than Fifteen Feet
Long and Was Stubborn.

ASohk anu "As StuDDOrH.
IFrom the Chicago Daily Inter- ocean,
AT the head of the Indian River in
Florida three Chicagoans. w. H. Nc
Farland, Harry Rolf, and Mr.. Barton,
together with five companions, cap
tured in three days thirty-six alligators
from five to twelve feet in length. a
seventy-five pound green turtle, forty
pound wildcat, a forty-two-pound bass,
and on the fourth day they took an alli-
gator as big around as small barge.
and weighing not less than 900 pounds
1t was the most enormous saurian ever
killed in this country, measuring fully
fifteen feet in length. Yesterday re-
porter met Mr.. Mcfarland, whose
graphic story is as follows:
We had closed our circus Jan. l in
jacksonville, and a party of eight of us
went down and camped on the Indian
River. We were down there about
three weeks, and heard a great many
stories about alligators, especially from
an old settler that lived right near our
SeN'NARt iAo tOio dHlSdlOI
stories to us. Speaking about alliga-
tors" he would say, there are lots of
little alligators around here" And 1
asked him, the first time he told his
stories, about how large the critters
grew to be. We'll" said he, there
are some small ones up here about
seven or eight feet long" When he
said a seven or eight foot alligator we
all looked astonished to hear him call
| it small one. We all laughed at it.
He told us where there were some alli-
gator holes. and we all made up our
| minds to go up and explore them
| So next day there were three of us
who went UP where we heard that
there was a big one. The old settler
| said he had been seen around there,
probably about twelve foot alligator,
one of the largest ever seen. So three
| of us went UP to the hole where the
gator was, about a mile above the
tent. The rest gave us a laugh for go
ing, thinking we didn't amount to much
as alligator hunters. Well, we sat
around there for about two hours near
| those holes. By the way, there were
| liNe VI SiA dillEdlOI HOlSS dIOunu WltlllL
half an acre. We were waiting for him
to come out, not knowing at that time
| that they don't come out except on the
very hottest days in the winter time.
While sitting there I mentioned to one
of the boys about getting pole and
running it in the hole to see If we
could not touch him. So we went to
our boat where we had a pole about
fifteen feet long, and we brought that
pole along.
Now, the hole was situated very
funny. This alligator, instead of going
up on the land ten or twelve feet and
digging his hole, had commenced right
at the edge of the pond, and dug in
under the ground in a slanting direc-
ton, throwing the dirt back in the pond
so that it made a little island right in
front of the hole. Now, in order for us
to get to this hole, two OF us had to
jump out on this little island, making
our position one of real danger in case
the brute should happen to rush out,
as 1t would be an utter impossibility
for US to get away from him, since the
lake was back of us and he would be in
|
and the deep sea, as it were.
Standing on this little island we ram
med in the pole. Sure enough, there
was Mr.. Gator. The moment he was
touched he commenced to fight the pole
and I hollered out: We've got him
Harryw WELL" says Barton, chow
are you going to get him out of the
hole, now you have got him?" 1t was a
pretty difficult question. There he was
in the hole, and we had nothing but the
pole. But Mr.. Barton says: 1--WE have
got big boat hook in the boat" and
he ran and got it. Then we tied this
boathook on the end of the pole, ram
ming it again in the hole, and struck
Mr.. Gator and commenced punching
him.
At last the hook caught him in under
the jaw, going right up through the
jawbone and out under the tongue.
The moment the hook stuck in him he
gave one struggle, and then settled
down to try to pull away from the
hook back in the hole.
When 1 hollered to Mr.. Barton and
Mr.. Rolf to jump out and help pull him
up, they both jumped out on the island,
and the three of US got round the pole.
We pulled for about half an hour, TAX
Ing rests every little while, and could
not bulge him an inch. One man would
hold the pole while the other two
rested. While Mr.. Barton had hold of
the pole and the other two of us rested,
Mr.. Barton, instead of holding the pole
steady, went to punching On it. That