The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-03

Emma was anchored in the middle OF the
wide lagoon which opened out from the
river This was called by the captain
Gator Cove because these saurians
| were always to be foundthere
Il can take bout twenty back on this
| trip he explained, IAN got orders for
| double that number. They ali want big
| ones, an the yare harder 10 catch. But
| they bring more money"
As a preliminary 10 alligator-hunting
/ the captain sought some game in the
/ woods, and returned in his little dory in
half an hour with fresh meat enough for
his purpose. Cutting this up into ap-
proprfate chunks, he threw them over
| board after tying them TO strings. The
| blood dyed the water around the house
| boat a crimson hue. Perfect silence
reigned few moments. Then a series of
| ripples of water near the shore indicated
the approach OF some object. A black
! snout appeared above the surface of the
placid lagoon; then two, three, ard fou-
1t was a race for the fresh meat, The
scent of which had already reached the
slumbe-ing alligators
As the nearest saurian approached
Captain Joe took the moose of a stout
rope on the pronged end Of a long pole,
and waited patiently for his opportunity
! The leading alligator, intent upon his
! prey, gave no heed to the trap laid for
| him. When within a dozen feet of the
floating bait the creature made a magui-
ficent forward dive to outstrip his rivals.
| He was so successful that he caught the
bait and swallowed it in one guIp but at
| the sam emoment something slipped over
his head that he had not taken into con-
sideration, and before he could back ont
Of the loop Captain Joe had frightened on
II. The other end was wound around a
small hand-winch on the deck Of the
| house-boat.
! The discovery that he was caught BY
some ruthless trap so disconnected the
monster that he disgorged his morseI of
fresh meat, and began one Of the most
violent dressings of the. water ! ever
witnessed. The power of an alligator's
tail was never better demonstrated 1t
disturbed the waters to their very found
alton, and tore loose from the bottom
plants and aquatic weeds. Slowly the
captain wound up the winch, and each
turn of the handle brought the alligator
a foot nearer the side of the Emma
When within few yards of the craft,
the hunter of Wild beasts took a second
moose, and with the dexterity of Mexi-
can with his lariat threw It out and en-
circled the horny tail. Stretching his
rope taut by a windlass near the stern
of the boat, he pulled his captive on deck
in a condition of utter helplessness. The
alligator wriggled and snapped viciously,
vainly trying to catch in his teeth the
ropes that bound him; but Captain Joe
had provided for such an emergency, and
had his pulleys so arranged on deck that
1t was impossible for the creature to re-
lease himself in this way.
The ingenuity of Captain Joe was fur
Their illustrated by the way he Gagged the
raging monster. The stern and forgard
ropes were slackened or drawn taut until
the alligator was pulled up just amid
ship. A side rope was attached, and by
pulling on this the creature was hauled
directly over a trap-door on deck, which
had been opened to receive him. This
door led directly to the alligator COM
partment below. 1t was all accomplish
ed so neatly, accurately, and without evil
dent concern on the captains part that
1 gazed in mute establishment. Single
haded, he had captured an alligator that
ordinarily would have required the COM
bined exertions of several men"
ITS all a matter Of KNOWN how" he
remarked, as he locsened the loops from
the animals body with his pronged pole;
"but the KNOWN how amt given to
every man, an that's why my business
amt overdone, guess
The operation had taken about an hour, |
and 1t was repeated several times the |
first day. When six good-sized live alIi- |
gators were landed in the compartment, |
Captain Joe desisted from further 1abors. |
Wen take a rest on that fur this |
day. l amt rushin' matters down this /
swamp. If We get run down the chills |
an fever are sure TO shake We. They |
don't bother elf ye take it easy an keep |
up your strength an spirits
After the alligator compartments were
filled it was necessary to secure food for
them, and in this work the captain and
I enjoyed some excellent sport. For three
days we gave no further heed to captur-
ing wild animals, but pushed and rowed
streams in search of small game. We
loaded the boat down several times with
a miscellaneous collection of wild fowl
quail, partridges vii turkeys and wild
pigeons. Out of the depths of the
swamps we daily started up strange birds
and four-footed beasts. To make our
hunting more effective, we set traps ard
snares for the birds. which I agreed 10
visit every morning thereafter to secure
food for the menagerie Of wild creatures
which I kne-v would rapidly increase in
numbers on the fourth day Captain
Joe announced the new feature Of his
program in these words.
Wen ill up with the snakes next.
know where they hang out IN numbers.
No. snakes amt dangerous If you know
how to handle EN-. Ye jes want ter keen
awayfro m their jaws. and they can't
harm ye no more'n them gators did
His method OF capturing the celebrated
Florida damond-back rationale was
simple and novel enough. The next
morning We pushed away in the dory, ard
while skirtiRg the edge OF the stream
We watched the logs and fallen trees.
Suddenly Captain Joe pointed 10 a large
slack mass coiled upon the em5ankment
at the foot Of a tree without uttering
word we approached Il cautiously, cap
tain Joe leading the way, holding his
1alv weapon. long. jointsd dsb-pole,
.orkeI at the end This FORK he deftly
,roved over the neck OF the reptile. aa1
1in.cHed him to the ground. While The
frightened and angry snake squirz1ed and