The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-11-12
BIG SEA TURTLE
Gave Five Men a Fierce Battle, But
Was Killed.

Chicago Special to New York Journal)
William K. Fellows, Hugh Browning
and William Adams were at Port Ar
thur. Tex, recently on business. and
decided to indulge in a little tarpOn
fishing. They took a catboat. two skiffs
and two men. Off the jetties they got
into the skif and proceeded to bait up
Mr. Adams put fOurteen-inch mullet
on his hook. Pretty soon the line be-
gan TO walk off Mr. Adams cried out:
..Ha, a tarpon" and attempted to pull
in his fish. But the fish didn't pull in
worth a cent; on the contrary, it began
to look as if Mr.. Adams were being
pulled in. And then The boat began
to travel through the water like a gas
oiine launch. The wind was strong and
the sea high. The men hadn't the
slightest idea what had hitched on to
them There was every prospect for a
whole lot of fun.
This, to be exact. was on Aug. Is, at
l:5O a m. Pretty soon Mr.. Marine
Monster decided that towing a boat
was beneath his dignity. and came 70
the surface to study the situation and
decide what to do next. Then Mr. Ad-
ans discovered that he was attached
20 a green sea turtle about the size and
shape of a washtub. Mr. Turtle had
not swallowed the bait: he had merely
been cruising about in the vicinity and
had got the hook stuck in his left flip
Der.
Then began a battle royal between
one turtle and five men. The men
would pull up close to him and then the
turtle would dash off and tow the two
slxiffs around while. Then he would
take a rest and the boats would creep
up on him again. This time he would
splash around in an aimless sort of
fQFs
dear life with their skiff half fun OF
water.
At last Mr.. Browning was lucky
enough to get a gait into him. This
made him real mad. and he nearly
made the whole outfit turn turtle. y
Luckily Mr.. Fellows got hold of him
with q, second gaff. Mr.. Turtle. with a
hook and two gaffs in him, now pro-
ceeded to get excited, and for a few
minutes it was anybody's game, with
the odds in favor of the turtle.
Finally, at the critical moment. Mr..
Fellows drew his tTusty revolver and
succeeded in putting a bullet through
the turtles neck. This seemed to partly
paralyze the turtle, and he allowed
himself TO be toWed over to the CatbOat
and hauled on board. This, to be exact,
was at 2:10 z. m. of the same day.
Until sos the big turtle lay quietly
in the catbOat nursing his sore neck
and thinking the thing over. Then he
got up on his hind f1ippers and pro-
ceeded to take up the fight where he
had left off. After he had come pretty
near capsizing the catbOat several
times the five men ran the craft ashore
and tied the turtle to a tree. But 1t
was not until the cook at the hotel
joined the fray with a cleaver and cut
him up into steaks that he gave UP
the fight The cook got sixty-five
pounds of steak and soup meat enough
to last the g tests of the hotel a whole
week. Mr.. Turtle, to be exact, was
three feet six inches in diameter, and
weighed $50 pounds.
This is a true story. If you are skep-
teal, there's the head. And, besides,
Mr. Adams says on the same day he
landed a tarpOn measuring little over
FIVE feet This in itself is not SO re-
markabIe, but Mr.. Adams says it was
the smallest of the six that he hooked
that daV.