Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-11-03
GUARDED BY A SHARK.


A sixteen. Foot Monster That Did sentinel
Duty at the Dry Tortugas.
The recent ordering of troops to the
Dry Tortugas, Florida, recalls curl.
GUS incident in which boy prevented
the escape of prisoners and performed
O humanitarian act, which was greatly
misunderstood at the time and ar.
reused no little comment in the press
of the day.
At the time mentioned the island OF
Dry Tortugas was used as a great
prison, and bounty jumpers, desert
ers and prisoners of all classes were
confined there to the number o.
several thousands.
The island is but thirteen acres in
extent, surrounded by wide and
deep moat, which made it almost i'm.
possible for prisoners to escape, yet
every time vessel came into the har.
Dor one or more men would make the
attempt. Obtaining ropes they would
lower themselves into the moat from
q portfolio, swim across the ditch,
and try to pass out the tide gate, des.
pite the fact that sentries paced ur
and down on every face and kept
watchful vigilance, with orders to fire
and call the guard. Several prison.
ers did escape the sharp eyes of the
guard by swimming and dodging un.
der water when passing the senti
mel.
But all were not successful. Sew
eral unfortunate men dropped inte
the ditch from the ropes and were
found drowned the following morn
ing. The guards were doubled and
everything done to prevent the at,
tempted escapes; not because there
was any danger of the men getting
away, as the transports were always
searched, but to prevent casualties.
Just then it happened that the sur
geon of the post was making q study
of the large sharks thereabouts, and
one day his son suggested that they
put big maneater in the moat where
it could be watched. He said to Gen
eral Meigs, who was stationed at Fort
Jefferson at that time: cit will pre-
vent the men from swimming the
moat, and so be the means of saving
their lives"
The proposition went into immediate
effect. The surgeons son, with the
boys of another officer, went out fish
ing and soon captured shark, which
the surgeons twelve -oared barge
towed on shore, the huge fish beating
the water with its tail, and at one
time taking the cutwater in its jaws
and shaking it as q cat would mouse.
Finally, after several hours of hard
work and with the assistance of many
men, the shark, which was at least
thirteen feet in length, was hauled
over the tide bridge, the surgeons
son cut out the hook, and with
swirl of his big tail the monster went
dashing away.
The shark was dubbed the Provost
Marshal by the prisoners, and that it
inspired q wholesome dread in their
minds was soon evident. But it was
a perfectly harmless creature. 1t
swan round and round very near the
brick wall, with one eye cast up
pathetically. 1t presented formid-
able spectacle, moving slowly along,
uaO AO OuO odI co CAI0I LILO WdtCi,
consequently no casualties were re-
ported. But it was not long before
an article appeared in a northern paper
calling attention to the terrors of Dry
Tortugas, where among other tortures
the Union officers used maneater
sharks to capture prisoners, and so
no little excitement was occasioned
among thoughtless readers in the
North and South at what was con-
ceived to be brutality of the officers
who had charge of the Dry Tortugas
prison.
Meanwhile the great shark, in real
ity timid and utterly demoralized
creature, was swimming about, refus
ing the dantiest morsels of fish which
were offered it, finally becoming so
tame that it could be touched by it's
boy captors, who followed it about on
RATS while the naturalist watched the
method of swimming and made, many
sketches of it and the singular fishes
which clung to its sides. The shark
lived six months, finally dying of
starvation. It's jaws may now be seen
in the American Museum of Natural
History, Central Park, New York