Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-02

Some Exciting and Dangerous Sport OF the
Flo3& Coast.
II

Some Exciting and Dangerous Sport OF the
FloH& Coast.
1t Is Not Generally Known That Croc-
| odile. Arctic se Foand i,
This country.
Correspondence Of the Chicago Record
at is not generasHy known that we have
| in this country a crocodile" said cocoa
nut planter of the Bfssayne country ct
lived in Florida. near the Miami, for
months before I knew it. 1 met the Semi
noles from up the swamp every now and
then, and when I asked for game they al
ways referred to what they called the
sharp nosed gator. which / supposed was
the common alligator. One day. however,
| came across an Indian who had the skull
of one of these sharp-nosed gators for sale.
bought 1t, and at once was struck with
the difference between 1t and that of the
alligator One was pointed, with sharp
teeth; the other fiat and round-npsed. with
blunt. crushing teeth. Here. unsupported
at least by the majority of. white people,
| discovered-was as perfect a crocodile as
&C uld be found on the Nile, and / deter
! mined to capture one II possible.
''Anigators were fairly common. and 1t
was difficult to distinguish them from the
crocodiles. But I learned that the croco-
diles were found near the mouths of
streams. in salt water, and that the alliga
| tors were more. at home up stream. About
this time a party of friends from New York
came down to my plantation; SO we organ
| lied hunt, and for several days secured the
little bays and inclosed- areas of the coast.
went up the rivers and crawled into the
/ Swamps, but never saw a large crocodile.
| We were. in fact. hunting for giant de-
scribed by the Indians as twenty or twenty
one feet long. that had been seen and shot
at score of times. but no one had ever
hit 1t. 1t was reported, taking TO the
rivers in winter and being seen up in the
swamp going down to salt water in sum-
mer
This monster was fully pictured in our
imaginationS We could see his big head,
| his enormous mouth, the corrugated back,
| in every submerged log or alligator. But
days slipped by. and he failed to material
iZe.
One day took the party out to- the reef.
| mile from shore. to spear turtle or any
game that might come along, and the main
subject of our conversation was our poor
luck with crocodles. While we were talk
ing my man suddenly stopped rowing and
rection long tail was lifted out of water
coming down with a powerful splash and
then long, alligator-il1e body became Wis
ible. and Immediately disappeared. causing
I
- Crocodile. said the man.
What? Out here? Nonsense man. ex-
| claimed one of my companions.
You saw it, sir? said the man, turning
to me. No shark could look like that. 1t
was either a crocodile or an alligator and
| | never heard of an alligator coming out to
sea-
1T was an easy question to settle and
the boat was turned in the direction of the
| animal. the man in the bow taking out the
harpoon-a three -pronged affair-and exam
| lining it to see ifrtne rope was attached
The boat was rOwed slowly. the men max
ing as little noise as possible. the location
of the animal now being indicated by a
swirl Of water not seventy feet away
Whatever it was, lit was evidently feeding
in the shallow water? Not word was said
as the boat slowly -drfted up; the har-
pooner stood erect and ready. when sud-
denly, fifteen feet from the boat. up came
the broad, corrugated back of a huge croc-
odile, and the next moment sharp-pointed
muzzle protruded from the water having
in its jaws a ray, which it tossed from
side to ride. endeavoring to tear the wide
body asunder.
| "It was a croc6nfiR; there was no doubt
in our minds; ana so busi,y engaged was
1t that II did not see the boat until it had
covered five or six, feet more. Then the har-
turned. he threw the iron.
well struek!-eEtea some as the
iron hit the animal, trembling it kept
| it's place. Then the great tail came hiss
ing out of the water struck the slender
| mast the man dropping into the bottom of
the boaD and broke it off cleverly as
though it had been done with a knife.
Z" Look out for the line, Jump to wind
ard. Stern all handsr We're the orders that
fol- owed. as. in those few seconds the
crocodile had made desperate rush, jerked
the boat so rapidly to one side that she al
most tipped over and was now away like a
racehorse. headed for the mainland, with
an ominous wave in front that threatened
| now and then to come aboard and swamp
the light craft. We all laid low. as far in
the stern We could get, to keep the bow
out of water while the steed raced
Il knew we would have to stop this be-
fore We reached shallow water the
ina! would make rush over some shallow
and break the rope; SO when we had gone
perhaps half a mile l took the line, passed
| it aft and we all began to haul in. This
only excited our racer to more fervent eff
forts and he turned suddenly, again almost
tipping over the boat. We gradually gained
| on him until finally the boats prov was
| just over his slashing tail that was beating
| the surface with powerful lateral blows
and forcing him along. We had rifle in
the boat and my man now took it. and aim
| ing at the neck. fired. There was little
doubt as to its effect. as the crocodile
stopped, plunged head down, striking the
bottom in the shallow water, and SEEM
| fngly standing on its head. swept the sur
face with its tail like wha.e. We had the
| oars ready and backed. but not before one
had been struck and broken and the boat
nearly filed.
"All at once our game righted and plung-
| ed ahead savagely. then swan In circle
| and finally keeled over. whereupon we rails
ed shout of triumph and hauled along
side. He was beauty-not twenty feet
| long by any means. but at least fifteen: a
| splendid specimen of sea-going crocodile.
| AS he was too large to tow in it was de-
| cided to haul him aboard. To accomplish
| this the seats were lifted out and rope
| made fast to mis- tell. and he was then slow
| ly and carefully hauled in. Finally. when
| thu body was balanced across the boat he
was Sung around and dropped In length
| wise. The seats were then put on top OF
| the body, and. flushed with victory, we
| started for camp row ir sight.
| ut was rather difficult to use the oars. as
| the animal was higher than the gunwale.
| but we made fairly satisfactory progress
| and were close enough to camp to shout
| the news. when the unexpected happened
| an earthquake would not have created
| greater CONSERVATION. The dead crocodile
rose into the air az If impelled from below.
| forming a great hoop and lifting seats and
| oarsmen several feet. then dropped back
| and began a series Of struggles that turned
| the tables completely. Selling the forward
| seat in it's jaws it ground and twisted the
| soft pine, while the; pow erful tail carried
| xa,1,eS ~ struck and