The suburban citizen., 1902-09-20
HENRoosT ROBBED BY A SHARK
The Robber Caught In the Act, with
Chicken Feathers Between His Teeth.

! Nnlcktn between HE leebns
II is not often that a shark breaks
into mans henroost and steals his
chickens. Such case, however, is Oh
record at POinte-a-la. Hache. Emmei
Hingle told the story as he showed a
visitor around his fathers back yard
which was full Of lively and intelligent
young chickens Mr.. Hingle has only
had few years experience as a law
YER His veracity is therefore unQues
toned. He introduces the matter by
remarking:
eve lost a great number Of oui
chickens last year by a shark"
white or colored" asked the visitor
incredulously.
"a shark, mana shark from the
Gulf-eight feet long"
did he walk all the distance OF
come in a fish car"
"The affair is not as impossible az
you are inclined to believe" remarked
Mr. Hingle in an aggreiyed tone. "Yor
notice the levee in front of the house
Wen. each year during the equinoctia
season, strong southeast wind blows
the waters Of the Gulf into Pointe-a-la
Hache and floods the town. The water
is three or four feet deep. We have tt
go in skiffs from the front Of the house
to the levee. Last year, as usual. wher
the floods commenced, we drove all OuI
chickens into the big henhouse. Nat
urally, when the food became, deer
they could not come down to eat. In
order to feed them we rigged up rope
parallel to each roost, and slowly
pulled a basket of corn from one end
to the other In this way the chickens
had TO eat standing up"
81 did not know that chickens ever
ate sitting down or in a reclining posi-
tion," interjected the visitor. How
ever that may have been their custom
during the days of the Romans"
at was only method OF expression"
continued Mr.. Hlngle 81 meant that
the chickens stood on the roost and ate
the corn as 1t passed before them in the
basket. Well, we had been feeding
them in this way for few days when
we noticed that they had begun to dl
minish in number. We then began to
count each morning, and found that
four or five disappeared each night.
We finally decided to watch. | rigged
myself up q platform in the chicken
house and went out to spend the night
From 10 o'clock until nothing hap.
pened, and was becoming pretty well
tired thinking probably that the negro
who had been robbing our henroost
had seen me and would not make an,
other attempt while l was there. As
the gray light began to dawn, how
ever, heard a series Of splashes, and
looking toward the rear l saw a large
shark jumping the fences as if they
had been hurdles. Naturally / was
very much surprised. When the shark
had jumped our fence he disappeared
under the water l was looking all
around for him when heard noise in
the henhouse, and looking down l saw
the shark. He had come in by diving
through the large hole through which
our chickens had gone into the yard
when they awoke in the morning. You
may imagine my CONSERVATION. 1 was
alone in a henhouse with a chicken
eating shark, and had no adequate as.
surance that he was not also man
eater. The shark did not wait for an
Introduction, balancing himself upon
his tail, he grabbed a chicken from the
roost and swallowed it whole. He re.
peated the feat until he had eaten six,
and then, diving through the hole, went
leaping over the fences again, evidently
very much pleased. He had failed tC
see me, otherwise he might have bitten
me in the leg
"Well, to make long story short"
continued Mr.. Hingle, 1--WE waited for
him next morning and stopped the hole
after he had entered. We then killed
him with a rifle
Taking the visitor to the rear gallery
Mr.. Hingle showed the jawbone and
teeth Of the shark. In the teeth were
number of chicken feathers
I'VE managed to kill him before he
had time to pick his teeth" remarked
Mr.. Hingle modestly. - New Orleans
TlmeS-DemOcrat