The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-04-27
Story of a Shark and a BaIti-
more Man.
6lDFASHIONED PIPE DREAM
Thrilling and Blood CurdIing
in the Extreme.

but of a period of my life when ! was
young-very young-and very experienced
lawyer
Had 1 been less young and more expert
enced / would not have risked my newly
acquired foothold at the New York bar by
accepting an invitation from a friend OF
my fathers spend three mnths at hi:
Cuban plantation. But l was bit run
down by overwork, and l fancied l could
wrestle more doughtily with the problem
OF snatching fame and fortune from a
profession already overcrowded if l could
first get a change of air and complete
rest.
So, early in November of a certain year
farther back than l care to remember.
found myself a welcome and a decidedly
happy guest at one Of the finest planta-
lions on the Cuban coast.
The whole place was like f>iryland to
my New York eyes-a dreamy, lazy. trop-
zeal, multi-colored fairyland. For weeks
I amused myself loafing about, studying
native customs, exploring the hills and
sailing on the broad waters of the bay,
that flashed and sparkled at the very foot
of the cliff on which the plantation house
was built
I The one drawback to my perfect enjoy
ment was the fact that despite the near
a ness and delicious warmth of the clear
water, / was implored most urgently by
my host never to go swimming.
But why not l asked him, when he
first preached the subject. THAT is an
ideal sheet OF water for bathing. and just
think what fun ii will be to write to my
friends at home. who are beginning to
shiver under the advance of winter. and
tell them / swim in the ocean every day
in November.
I'm sorry he replied courteously ito
deprive you of any pleasure and more es-
pecially to rob you Of the delight of crow
ing over your Gotham friends But I'm
afraid you might not live to record that
swim. -"
Now. I pride myself on my skill and
power as swimmer. At tie seaside /
usually found little trouble in surprising
the average bather when it came to
sprinting. TO distance swimming or To
swimming under water. knd | had won
one or two prizes for the same sport while
at college.
1T isn't through any fear of your
drowning that l ask you not to go swim
ming here said my host when l had ex-
planned this "But-welI. the waters of
the bay aren't safe for swimmers"
Being. as / have said, very young and
being moreover. strongly possessed of the
real spirit of investigation, L pressed him
TO explain.
We don't like to speak of it around
here he said at length, because it is
subject to more than one of us. Have
you heard the native negroes and Span
iar1s laround here mentioned el lobe ma
rio?"
YES said. after moments thought;
passing by the quarters last night l
heard a negro mother telling her baby
that unless it stopped crying eel lobe ma
rino1 would catch him.
"E1 Lobo means sea wolf. I supposed
1t was some local bugaboo when she said
i'll
fit is not" answered my host gravely.
ut is a shark.
20 Thought tiburon was the Spanish
word for shark" l said.
1T is replied he ITS the generic
name for shark. But the shark which has
made this bay a terror to swimmers has
the local nickname of eli lobo marine.
Sometimes he is spoken of as Ell calamidad
del mar Che scourge of In sea) He it is
that keeps our beautiful bay free of
bathers."
''You speak of him as if there were
but one shark there. l laughed. Does
this particular monster monopolize the
shak business in these parts?'
mo. there are many sharks in the boy, /
II
but for the most part no one minds them
much. They are usually roo small to do !
any great damage even were they not
more afraid of man than is man of them. I
y siz-foot shark could not make much
Roadway in eating a six-foot man. But. /
ell lobo marino is a very different PROPOSE /
ton"
How large is he?' 1 asked curiously.
.'All sorts of reports are abroad as to /
his size responded the narrator. Per /
sonally I've seen hi mbut once. From 4
that one quick glance l should say he /
must have been close to twenty feet
long
But" l protested. I've always heard
sharks don't modest men. They say ,..e
theory that sharks are maneaters is just
an old superstition invented by sailors,
and that sharks only feel on dead bodies"
They say SO. do they?" retorted my
host: then they couldn't have been with
me in my yawl when the best fisherman.
Andrea. fen overheard. There was a rush
through the water and l caught just one
feeting glimpse of the monster as it drag
ged him under. lie never came up. There
are a dozen other men along this bay
Who ca ntell you similar stories of el
iopo marino. That is why l beg you ont
to swim in these waters"
For al least day / was greatly i'm
pressed BY what I had heard. Then l be
"a nto experience a longing TO get one
glimpse OF this dreaded monster While l
could ont doubt my hosts word. yet / felt
the stories concerning the huge shark
must in some way have bee 3iexaggerated.
I caught myself floating along the BAYS
surface by the hour, in my boat. leaning
far over the Eunwale 10 scan the per
fectly clear depth beneath me for some
trace of eel lobo
In northern ATTITUDES. no matter how
clear the water may he. the human eve
can seldom penetrate il more than a few
feet. But along Cuba's coast. in many
placs where coral formation is most
prominent. man can look down from his
boat through three fathorns Of crystal
clear water and discern every object living
on the cleaning white coral sands be
low
Yet. though / gazed with straiinc ewes.
I could never catch eve ma rrouentarv
view OF the great shark. True. l saw sew
erai other sharks. ranging from four 10
~, Oh. fp.- N f-,,+ I