Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1899-07-12
A LIVELY OLD SHARK
HE MADE RAPID TIME FROM MONTE
VDEO TO PERNAm6UCO.

The speed attained by south Allan
tic sharks in their efforts 20 arrive at
desired points within the least possible
space of time" said No 1s. who used
10 be in the navy and is now a clerk in
the navy department. addressing the
last meeting Of the Washington Liars
club. ''has long been a subject Of scien-
tific investigation. 1 don't know the
exact number of knots they have been
found 10 make within the space Of an
ordinary four hour watch. but if a
south Atlantic shark can't beat an alba
tross when II comes 10 speed III eat my
bag and hammock and ditty box.
Now, there are some sharks down in
the south Atlantic that don't like TO
find themselves too near the equatorial
waters. and yet they want 10 have plen-
ty Of room 10 prowl They've got the
temperature Of water that suits them
best figured out 20 "A nicely. and they
know that on the other side Of the eOua-
torial line there's just as good water.
and water OF the same degree Of tenn
perature. as that IL which they're fool
ing around when they get 70 thinking
on this subject
''Wel, what do they do when they
get 10 worrying over the cramped space
in which they find themselves on one
side Of the line or the otherg WHY.
they just make a dash across the line.
That's all They know that the equa-
torial line Is a trCcha Of water that's a
heap too hot for their constitutions and
that they can stand monkeying around
IN the water on that line too long. and
SO they just hop over il, licketty cut. so
fast that you can't see their fins for
dust
4 remember once, when I was on
the old Ticonderoga, a thing happened
that gave rs line on the speed Of
sharks when they take it into their
heads 10 get speedy We got into the
port Of MontevideO one morning at 10
o'clock. 1t was ON a Monday. April -.
Montevideo harbor is full Of sharks. and
the men forward got 10 fishing over the
side for them IN order 10 get their spines
20 make walking sticks Of them. One
huge man eater was landed after great
difficulty with the combined strength Of
the whole watch on deck. and he had 10
be dubbed with Delaying pins and cap
stan bars for an hour before he gave up
and cashed in
well. we cut him open. and. gentle
men. what do you suppose we found
inside Of him2 Why, as fine a gold
watch and chain as you ever saw IN
your lifel Not an ordinary minute and
second hand watch. but one Of those
watches that give the date, the day OF
the week, the phases Of the moon and
the whole thing. Well sirs. YOU can
imagine our astonishment when we
snapped the case of this watch open
and found that It had stopped at exact
+ ~ p. ~, April Il. the day before we
got into MOntevideO.
The skipper Of our ship reported
this fact 70 the tOwnspeople Of Monte
video when he went ashore. feeling con-
hdent that some prominent citizen of
that town had inadvertently permitted
himself 10 be made a meal Of bv an
/ epicurean shark. de naturally conclud-
ed that the victim must have been 2
prominent citizen to pack such q swell
umepiece around with him Nobody
was missing out Of the population Of
MonteVideo, and the thing looked al
mighty mysterious
We'll We remained in the harbor Of
Montevideo for six weeks making re-
pairs. and in that time the shark and
watch incident was practically forgot
ten. We We're just upon the point OF
pulling out for northern waters when
the British ship Cardiff. from Pernam-
bucO. Brazil. put into Montevideo The
Cardiff mate was in command. and
he had queer story TO tell of how the
+ command had fallen 10 him. 1t seems
that on April IL the skipper. returning
to the ship from Pernambuco in his
long boat. had slipped in stepping on
TO the tiOat leading to the ships gang
way and fallen into the water Before
the boats crew had chance to pull
him back into the stern sheets there
was swish and the skipper was being
packed off in the jaws of a gigantic
shark
''N on il remember that this happened
on the afternoon of April II. Well.
there wouldn't have been anything re-
markable about this if the mate in com
mand of the Cardiff hadn t happened "a
mention that the skipper had a valu-
able watch on his person when the
shark got him. Our commanding officer
heard about this, and be looked up the
mate and asked him what kind Of a
watch II was The mate exactly de-
scribed the watch that we had taken
ont of the shark : stomach in Monte
video on the morning of April u, and
when our skipper showed il to him he
instantly identified it
"NOw. all that any body who doubts
this has got TO do in order TO find ont
how many thousand miles Pernambuco
Is from MOuteVideO Is tO ueasura III,
scale ON the atlas of South America
That shark only hit the high places in
jumping from Pernambuco 10 Monte
videO. and if there's any doubter Of this
narration here present why, here the
shark spine. and No. Is Of the Liars
club held mp 30 cent malacca stick
The quarterly medal was bestowed
upon No Is by unanimous vote.
Washington Star
The widow.
1t Is said by an AtchiSon cynic that