The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-08
ABOUT ALLEGATIONS.
ONE OF THE CHIEF ATTRACIION
 OFFLOKIDA DISAPPEARING.
Hunters Thinning Out rhe Florida Wa- ters--Favorite as sSouvcnirs-Hides Are Valuable.

l
 Valuable.
 St. Augustine, Fla, Feb. 19.-One of
 the chief attractions of Florida, the all
 ligator, is becoming extinct. Nertaln 1t is that the creature is growing less and less until it is predicted that in decade or two the timid pickaninny may wade into the sluggish streams without Tear of being eaten alive.
 The tremendous onslaught of people who hunt the alligator for different pur- poses has brought about this condition
 The reptile is being carried around the earth in the shape of hand bags, belt9 and pocketbooks, until there are few left to tell the story of his past greatness. l Not only this, but the little ones are taken from the nest as soon as they pip through the egg. In this primitive and miniature state of their lives they are sold to tourists alive, and are car ried or shipped to every section of the north A little fellow, scarcely six inches of dark, wriggling animation, brings from 50 cents to $1.50 and on up to much higher prices. Many people make a living robbing the nests, which have been made on the sand and where | the eggs exposed to the sun hatch in course of time They are placed in big box where hundred may be seen, the casual observer noticing no life until they are disturbed, when the whole mass begin to scramble over each other. A l little fellow is imprisoned in cigar box and shipped according to address or whim of the purchaser.
 Catching the alligator for his hide has, more than anything else, decimated the tribe. These are made into travelling bags and belts and many other kinds of leather goods. The horned back hide bringe the highest price, and an ordin- ary ,sized pelt of this kind brings $4 Others vary from S2 up. Many of the skins are bought for the purpose of hanging them up in rooms adorned by sports, who have a weakness for dis playing trophies alleged sometimes, of the hunt
 None of these hides are tanned or dressed here. They are sent north and come back to meet q ready sale at greatly advanced prices.
 For time other uses were made of q dead alligator. His jaws were made to produce bushels of teeth which were manufactured into all kinds of articles cuff buttons, charms, stickpins--and they were strung together in yard or two of watch chain. The supply how ever, became so great as to make them a drug on the market The demand fell off until a barrel of them could be bought for a cong.
 In other years the alligator furnished no end of sport for tourists. who came down the St. Johns river. He could be plainly seen from steamboat deck, swimming about the stream when all kinds of guns would be brought to bear on the black object until the poor fel- low had no show for his sluggish life. In time, however, the state stopped this practice, and now the game must be taken according to the provisions of the statute
 The alligator animate and inanimate has been made to serve the queer fam cies of millions of visitors to Florida As has been said. they are largely bought alive, but 1t is the chiseled carved painted nodded and stuffed all ligator that meet loosens the purse strings of the souvenir buyer. A dealer here says that imitation alligators are the articles most sold here There are three leading, favorite souvenirs on which the choice of q buyer is al once centred The first is the alligator, offer ed in more than a thousand conceits of a resourceful designer. Then comes the coat of arms which was found cut in the stones of the ancient city gates. The third choice is the orange knife, but on the latter a carved alligator is often made to do service for a handle,
 Perhaps no tribe of idolaters ever worshipped an inanimate object, per chance the costly work of the skilled l magicians and artisans, as do the great mass of people who come down here and carry, wear or ship away this ugly. | repulsive representative of animal craa- tion.-special Correspondence to the | Chicago Record.