The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-03-25
THE DEVILFISH.
Thrilling Experiences with these Mon.
aters Of The Deep.

The story printed last Thursday that
Col. R. T. Holloway, Of Lexington,
KY, had been drawn out to sea in a
small boat by a devilfsh while he was
fishing in Rookery Bay, Fla, was re-
ceived with incredulity by some per-
sons.
The possibilities of such an occur
renee are, however, we'll understood by
those acquainted with Jul Southern
coasts, where at one time devilfsh
used to be exceedingly numerous.
Mr.. Charles G. Hurlbut, of the
American Geographical Society, said
yesterday: "The devilfsh is quite
common on the coasts Of Carolina,
Georgia and Florida. I presume that
it is also to be found in the Gulf Of
Mexico. The devil6sh We find here
is not like the octopus Of Victor
Hugo's romance, "The Toilers Of the
Sea-" It belongs to the Ray species,
and is almost square in shape. It's
mouth is at one point, the tail at an
other and a fin at each Of the other
orner It grows very large, becom-
ing immensely heavy and powerful.
There are, perhaps, forty different
kinds of devil6sh.
II once witnessed an exciting scene
in the harbor of Charleston. A devil
fish picked up the anchor of q ships
boat and carried it off to sea. The
cause of the boats sudden animation
and disappearance was promptly sur
missed by the sailors On other vessels
lying in the harbor and a number of
them put off in boats in pursuit of the
devilGsh. They hooked on to the
FIRST boat in turn as they reached it,
but it was not until the sixth boat
o~verhauled the chase and hooked on
that the monster cam to a halt. 1T
was then killed by harpoons and
brought back to the wharf at Charles.
ton where it was an object of general
interest.
IA description Of this monster is
given in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
It measured twelve feet across and
was from two to three feet in thick
ness.
IT have read" continued Mr.. Hurl-
but, "of a monster octopus, which
retarded the progress of q man-of-war,
and these gigantic creatures are said
to attain a size of seventy or eighty
feet from point to point.
"In Buttons Natural History is
given q picture Of a frigate in the
grasp Of one Of these marine monsters.
They are undoubtedly the most form
liable of all creatures inhabiting the
ocean depths. In the Persian Gulf
and the Bay Of Bengal they are the
dread Of the native pearl divers, many
of these having met a summary fate
by falling into the grasp of the deadly
tentacles.
"a description Of these terrible
monsters, known in legendary lore as
lrakens, and designated by science as
Cephalopterae, compares them to the
spider in form. They crawl along the
bed Of the ocean, and in this attitude
resemble huge spiders. Their methods
of sucking the blood from their victims
is also Of o ~spider-like character. The
octopus is described as being partly
fish and partly reptile. It has no
blood, no bones, and no flesh, so far
as can be perceived, resembling more
q niece of animated rubber,
"Once having caught its prey by
means Of one Of It's feelers or t~entacles
it quickly enclasps it in its terrible
folds. Then the pustules or the f@eelers
fasten upon the victim and small,
sharp points emerge from them which
penetrate an inch into the flesh. These
feelers are small tubes that act asacup-
ping apparatus. By means Of these
all the blood is sucked out of the vic.
tim 8 body. The tentacles number not
less than eighty, and are often very
much more numerous. The suckers
number not less than fifty to each
tentaole, and after the victim has once
fallen into the vice-like grasp of the
monster death is swift and certain
Chris Moore, an old sailor and an
officer Of the Atlantic Coast Seamen 8
Union, said, when asked about his ex-
perience with devilfsh, that he was
lying in Rio Janeiro harbor some
years ago at the time that an English
m~an-of-war was stationed there. A
number of the sailors belonging to the
warship were bathing iu the harbor,
when suddenly a dark object was seer
floating in the water some distance
away. Imagining that it was a shark.
the bathers promptly made for the
ship. but, to the surprise and horror
of every one, what looked like a long
finger emerged from the water and
wound itself around the body Of one
of the sailors. With q shrek the
man disappeared, having been sucked
under the water by what was then seen
to be the tentacle of an enormous
devilfsh.
According to the French naturalista,
the devil6sh which frequent the coasts
of that country are we'll known to be