Evening star., 1896-11-05
PLENTY OF SHAR K S
The Southeast Coast of Florida Infested This
Year.
Mark Hanna's Pine Apple Patch-A
Snake Story as Told ct
Country Store.
Correspondence OF The Evening Star.

On the southeast coast Of Florida is infested
with shark. 1t Is probably the ''sharkiest'
water at this season in the world. Folks
who have dwelt for years In the junges Of
soft palmetto and on the savannahs of saw
grass that stretch inland from the she'll
strewn beach. in commenting on the more
than plentitude Of sharks, say: Il never
seen the like afore."
The blue swells that roll landward and
pound themselves into fieecy. frenzied surf
TEEN with this cruel fish. The white shark,
the basking shark, the hammerheaded
shark and other members Of the elasmo
branchiate family are there.
From Jupeter inlet to Hilsboro' inlet
they may be seen outside the breakers In
the breakers and inside the breakers. This
season they are SO numerous and vicious
that the strongest swimmers and the stout
est-hearted sea dogs along that part of the
coast Will not venture into the sea farther
than knee-deep water. Even where this
precaution has been taken casualties have
been. reported. 1t was only few days ago
that the son of Capt Collins of the Jupeter
life-saving station lost a foot by shark bite
lille standing in the surf. He would prob
ably have been killed had not a companion
plunged a bowie knife into the fish.
The mail from the north for Miami. Coco
anut Grove and other settlements at the
south end Of the peninsula used to be car
ried from Palm Beach by lone carrier
who followed the beach and crossed the in
lets in small boats. This was before the
opening of the East Coast railroad. 1t was
Just about one year ago that this lone car
rier left Palm Beach on his last trip. A
few days later the lightkeeper at HillsborO'
inlet found the carriers small boat bot
tom upward on the beach. The man was
never after heard from. There had been
no foul weather and the settlers refused to
believe that the carrier had liner abscond-
ed or had been killed by bandits. The gun
vale of the small boat showed that it had
on Nnn1 hrr
broken oar was later picked up on the
sound. The lightkeeper reported that thous-
ands of shark were in the inlet and that
they were uncommonly bold and excited
The taste Of human blood maddens these
fish. The old settlers feel that they know
about how the mail carrier met death.
Ihls season vast schools of bluefish,
sTappers and salt water mullets have ap-
peared off the coast Of Florida, and these
nave attracted untold thousands Of shark
from the warn water Of the gulf stream,
winch at that part of the coast flows
rcrtfward about four miles from shore
One may stand on the beach and throw
shells at the monsters they pursue their
prey. Rifle balls seem to have little effect
or shark. Fat pork. a big hook, strong
line and stout arm is the best way to kill
one.
Several times this fall sharks have been
seen In the Biscayne canal, which was re-
Gently cut through from Lake Worth to
Biscayne bay. But the shark finds no COM
| fort there. 1t Is the home of the good old
alligator, ami he resis,s intrusion. Every
self-respecting gator will tackle a shark
| on sight.
Mark Hnnnn's Pineapple Patch.
Mark Hanna is growing pineapples. This
| statement will come as somewhat of
| shock to those who think of Mark Hanna
| only as political engineer. Although he
| is a city man, he loves the little pineapple
! patch that grows green and spiney out of
| the white sand of Dade county. Fla. Twice
| wi hin the last eighteen months has ne
| turned his footsteps from the north to the
| south. Several times has Mark Hanna
| slept in the palmetto matched shack that
| stands shaded by whispering pine trees on
the eastern edge of Mark Hannas pine
| apple patch.
| 1t was about two years ago that the
| pineapple fever broke out in Florida and
became so virulently epidemic that pine
and hatwoods lands. which before had
| not been worth Sl.25 an acre. were sud
| denly held at $50 an acre uncleared and
| to clear an acre costs about $40. Mr.. Hanna
was boarding at Palm Beach. where the
note,s is charge M rye ~ day during three
| months OF the year. and 81 a week during
the other nine. Well. Mr.. Hanna was
boarding there during the s6-a-day season.
The germ Of the pineapple contagion en-
| tered his blood. and he bought an acre
| OF pine land from Representative Linton
| or Michigan, who owns a big tract of
muck and pine lands along the Bicayne
| Bay canal
l A L
lantic and the Everglades. 300 miles south
| OF Jacksonville. Uncle Nose Hawkins a
| Florida republican, tends Ii and sends
| monthly crop report to Mr.. Hanna I'm
cle Nose toid the writer that he would
rather grub an acre of hammock land
| with the sun at meridian and the mos
| Qutoes in full bloom than to write out
dat port ter Marse Hammer
Florida Snake Story.
1t was a Florida scene. The store and
| post office. built of upright boards of fat
| pine. stood at the cross roads chorus of
| mosquitoes sang battle hymn Several of
the county men We're waiting for the mail,
| not that they expected a letter but still
| they We're waiting for the mail They we're
| rot talking politics, nor We're they fighting
| Ger the war. They were Just chewing.
| whiting and telling stories. nearby
| bush of scrub oak rnstled softly, and look
| iEg hard into the bush one might have seen
| rattler-common enough down there. The
| story tellers saw the snake, but the only
| effect 1t had on them was to suggest an
| other story.
Col. Lee Jackson Ash5y Smith crossed
| his booted legs. spat at tarantula in the
| sand and said: We'll. gentlemen" Then
\ he Ircceeded with his story Out in the
| glades, four miles west of Boca Ratone,
| In far down Dade county, the colonel said
| that he ran against a seven-foot rattler
| which he esteemed SO beautiful that he
| took it home to his wife and children. II
! put the creetur in cage said the colonel.
| Soon afterWard 1 caught rat in a tran
| back of the barn. He was a very gray rat
| and seemed old. too old to have been
| caught that way. 1 thought he might
| make pretty good eating for the snake, and
| l dumped him into the rattler's cage The
| old rat covered in one corner and the
| snake coiled himself like creased lightning.
Raising his fiat head above his coil, he
| struck the old gray rat. OF course the rat
| squealed. but he didn't leave his corner
| He eyed the snake viciously A second
time the snake coled and struck and a
! second time the rat squealed. The rat did
not seem much hurt, and the poison was
| certainly slow in getting down to work
| The snake was mortified. He coiled again.
| There was wrath and disappointment in his
| eyes. He was about to strike again, when
! that old gray rat ran around the cage and
| leaped from behind upon the back of the
| rattler. He caught the serpent behind the
| head and buried his teeth time and again
| in the writhing, squirming snake. A ter
| rible battle being fought inside that
cage. The rat was gnawing through the
neck of the snake. The struggle suhsided
when the snake had been beheaded. That
was game old rat. and I've got him yet
| He gets cheese three times a day" Then
the mail arrived.
Thc Diphtherla Cases.
Parents of some of the children who at