Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-05-21
BATTLE OF THE OCTOPI.
Novel Contest Between Marine Mon
sters In Charleston.


It was at the close of one Of the de-
monstrations at the shad hatchery
while Superintendent Conway was
leading one Of his personally con-
Quoted tours" along the banks, that
some one called out that there was the
very devil of a row among two Of the
inmates Of the last tank. Superinten-
dent Conway thought it was a gag.
as that was the tank occupied by the
devil fish. But 1t wasn't. 1t was fight
to a finish between two of the octopi,
and the crowd gathered around the
glass front until they filled the broad
aisle completely. Front positions were
at a premium and the contest grew
intensely exciting. One was much
larger than the other, and, Of course. 1t
didn't take until the end Of the first
round for the sporting blood present to
have the two devil fish named Jeffries
and .Fitzsimmons. Jeffries for the big
one and "Fitz" for the smaller, ankier
fish.
To in the least way appreciate the
contest 1t was necessary to have been
an eyewitness. By way Of introduc-
tion which is incidentally always ten
der conventionally Of the prize ring
the octupus. famed in thrilling stories
and trust" cartoons, is sort Of skull
and cross-bones looking affair, with
eight long arms or legs or fms or feelers
or whatever you want to call them. On
the underside of these long arms that
curl about with serpentine motion are
numberless tentacles, sort Of sucking
tectacles at that. It Is with these arms
that they reach out and with these ten
tacles that they hold on to their prey
with a veritable death grip and stran-
gle their victim in much the same way
as boa-constrictor
When Superintendent Conway saw
what was going on he left the croWo'
and rushing back Of the tanks got a
stick and did all in his power to separ-
ate the fighters. This only added to the
excitement and the devil fish fight OF
yesterday for rushing the sporting
blood through the veins made a bull
fight in Mexico fade away into innocu-
GUS desuetude by comparison. 1t was
go il, Fitz!" or Twist him, Jef!
from the start. The whole fight was
fought in a single round Of several min
utes, during which Superintendent Con-
way as referee jabbed and stabbed with
his stick; but all to no purpose. TAKE
the four hands in prize ring and null
tiply by four and in the 16 Of yester-
days bout it is possible to imagine a
little of the action enjoyed by the spec
tators. Multiply these by hundreds OF
tentacles. which were constantly open
ing and closing in their efforts to get
sure hold and that may help some.
It was a clinch from the start, with
no breakaways. There was KIND OF
sparring for openings and each COM
batant was tied to the other by four
arms with four other arms in which
to continue the fighting. Then the Knot
was tied with five arms, then six and
finally seven, with one arm each free
for aggressive work. And all this time
the tentacles were sucking harder and
harder and the arms squeezing tighter
and tighter in a mutual effort at stran-
gulation. During this stage Of the
game the big "Jeffries' seemed to be
getting much the best of it and was
easily a strong favorite. Even his own
wicked eyes seemed to gleam with the