Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-19
DISAPPEARING GATORS
BIG SAURIANS BEING EXTER-
MINATED BY FASHION.
Southern Waters No Longer Alive
With These Monsters-slaughter-
ed for Their Skins.

From the New York Sun
]. Knight Perkins of Kalamazoo, Mich,
arrived In New Orleans recently in search
Of alligators for geological gardens in the
north. He went to New Orleans as the
headquarters of the alligator trade, one
house there having the credit of selling
100000 alligator skins year.
Since his visit Mr.. Perkins has awakened
to the fact that the alligator is practically
extinct In the south, having been killed of
in the last ten years In order to supply
shoes, satchels and pocket books. His conf
mission was for alligators exceeding four
teen feet in length. He had been told that
alligators sometimes were twenty and
twentyfour feet long, but as these were
probably scarce he had decided to confine
himself to the shorter sizes.
After a weary search Mr.. Perkins was
convinced that even the fourteen-foot alli-
gator was no longer extant. In all New
Orleans he could find but one live alligator
ten feet long. He offered 500 for this anil
NAL, four times what 1t was worth a few
years ago, but the owner declined to sell
at any price. Even the little alligators
from four to eight inches long, which for
merly sold at from 10 to IS cents, have dis
appeared from the market
The extinction of an animal SO abundant
as the alligator was in Louisiana in so
short a time Is almost without parallel.
Moreover, the alligator Is naturally long
lived, its normal age being estimated at
from 100 to $50 years.
Were Once Very Plentiful.
When the French settled Louisiana they
found the alligator, or. as they preferred to
call it, the crocodile, in almost every
stream. Evidence of It's. abundance Is found
IN MT tAokt -
arms Of New Orleans; only as the city zeal
was engraved in Paris and as the engrav-
ers there knew nothing about alligators,
but did know about the crocodiles Of the
Nile. 1t is a crocodile and not an alligator
that Is seen on it,
This mistake has been perpetuated In
spite of attempts to correct It. 1t Is parall-
eled by mistake In the state coat Of arms.
Leaving entirely out of consideration the
mythical character Of the story about the
pelicans feeding her young with her own
blood. the Louisiana seal represents the
bird as feeding five young ones. whereas
the brown pelican, which Is the Louisiana
bird. never lays more than three eggs at
once and the while pelican Of Europe and
Asia lays only two.
All through the early French days mar
velous stories were told Of the alligators
and their ravages. They ate dogs, pigs
and negroes. 1t was dangerous to 20 into
streams where they were known to exist,
and usually when such a stream had to
be crossed hours were wasted by beating
1t and frightening OF the alligators
The experience Of the last half century
has proved that there is not a word of
truth In these stories and that the alli-
gator Is about as innocent OF human blood
as the lizard, after which Is Is named
The stories Of negroes reported to have
been devoured by alligators simply covered
up cases OF slaves who ran away and
sought refuge in the swamps and did not
m ha y,tS~a ,,a1 t.
most of the pigs which the alligators were
supposed to have eaten would have been
found slaughtered in the plantation quar-
tiers had diligent search been made.
Never Eat Human Beings.
There Is no record Of any person being
hurt by an alligator in historical times,
nor Of an alligator having been seen to
eat either dog or a pig Alligators below
or bark like a dog with a bad cold, and as
a consequence they attract wandering dogs
But those who have seen dogs and aIli-
gators playing together have seen no harm
come of It to the dogs. Indeed, the dogs
are far too agile to be caught by the
clumsy saurians
The alligator is, however a greedy eater
Of fish and to 1T and the alligator gar was
due the scarcity Of fish until recently in
Louisiana streams. The extinction of the
~
While the advance Of civilization kept
down the number Of alligators in Louisiana
there were countless thousands up to TWEEN
ty years ago. But some one in Louisiana
thirty years ago tanned an alligator skin
and made pair Of shoes from 1t. 1t took
some years after that for the scanned and
knotty leather to grow into favor. But
when 1t did become popular the slaughter
of the alligator began which may wipe it
out of existence.
Alligator hunting originally began as
sport. Carried on as it must be at night,
for the animal sleeps nearly all day In the
mud, the hunt lie very picturesque. AS a
matter Of fact. 1T is as safe as playing bill
lards, and no one was ever hurt in it save
for ducking in the bayou from the over
turned pirogue. The animals are attracted
by a torch or other bright light, and are
easily killed, in spite of their rough skin.
But although the shooting was easy and
a great many alltgators were killed by
sportsmen in the early days of alligator
hunts. the slaughter did not begin until
the skins became a valuable commodity.
Then the work began in Florida and Louis
lana simultaneously and kept up until near
ly the last alligator was shot.