The Grit-advocate., 1905-10-27

VAS Ill tcnSacOla III 1SS2 and con-
Uacted to give public exhibition in
the bay, at a point near Washington
navy Yard. l was to be sewed up in
a biz sack. heavily weighted with sand
and thrown into the water, and l
promised to cut myself out with n
knife and gain tie surface in few
moments time, aud the papers talking
about the event got the interest of tie
people thoroughly aroused.
81 knew tlla, [ could do the trick all
right, and had 10 fears of drowning,
bat when the landlord of the hot 81
where l stopped began to talk abont
the sharks in the bay and told me of
several people who had been eaten
alive, l became the least bit worried.
But was game for the task, ard
never once entertained the idea Of
backing out, even though my fears
. grew as the hour approached for my
plunge: however. I determined to take
along in the sack an extra big knife,
and this determination, carried out, re-
suited in saving my life.
"On the afternoon of my descent into
the sea the shore line was black with
people, and there were parties out On
the water in skifts and other craft
hoping to get better view OF the per
tormance. Well. to get down to my
story. l was taken out quite little
piece from shore on :; 1lat-Gccked boat
and placed i'll Il huge sack, the bottom
of which was packed with heavy sand.
I took a lngcrn" look Mt the bright
blue sky, just before The Sacks mout-,
was closed, and INC n m with the
needle was getting ready f"r his work,
as the sharks were Sill IN my mind.
and I DIG NOT know .fl,etl!c: l would
come out of the venture alive or not,
but with the danger present my cour.
age rose. ana 70" ths I WAS thankful.
''The sack was iifte'l up by several
hurly negroes, hired for the purpose.
and thrown into the sea. The sound
of the splash merged with the noise
of rushing water in .u.r car. and felt
myself going to The lowest depths with
the speed of Il rocket. IN less than Il
second. when I could have hardly been
more than thirty feet beneath the sur
face, I fels something bump into the
sack, and the thought flashed upon me
that n shark or some other great fish
was diving for ne. l felt the bump
moment ihter on my other side, and
realized then, with Il cold sense of hor-
rOr. tEar there were Two Of the things.
iGvllatever they might be, aftc; me.
felt the jolts repeatedly in an !ncrcd-
hi cl, - ,,1
my knife firmly. ripped open the side
OF the sack which faced. freed my
self of its hindcring embrace, and shot
upward toward The surface. Once
something SraZed my leg. and. even
with the water tin@linG against my
flesh, the contact sent shivcrs down
my back, as the feeling was as though
l had encountered some yielding, rub
berry substance.
"Afy head bohhcd above the ocean.
and us l, struck out with sweeping
strokes for the nearest boat n shout
went up from the people on shore.
But ] was cl0rc to icath-somethins
warned me thlt !, was--and l didn't
care just then for tue plau,lits of the
place of safety. As | was making
great exertions. with my knife still in
my hand. the wafer parted a few feet
to the side of inc. aud | made out :hn
long, black fin of a shark. The mon
stcr was hcadin" for mo with cver-in-
creasins speed. and as was about to
dive to escape lis spriuG. another
shark appeared close by and dashed
in to get a parl OF the prospective din
ner.
",rhc first shark vas close upon me,
and distinctly saw it turn half way
over on its side and open its horrid.
teeth-lined jaws 20 seize me, when
acted. dove as quickly as thought
under water, and, gauging the dis
0ancc, came up in a hurry. My left
hand, extended over my head. encoun-
tered the yielding. rubbery substance
that had felt before, and quickly
leaning back l lungcd forward with
my big knife and I felt the weapon
drive deep and safely into something.
turned the knife several times and
slashed back and FORTH and I knew by
the agitation Of the water that the
shark-for such my quarry proved to
be--was struggling desperately. A
large, bulky object slipped through the
water and graZcd NY chest in its de-
scent to the bottom, and was aware
that the monster YVES dead and his
carcass on its way To its grave in the
ocean bed.
II came to the surface gasping for
breath, and saw almost within hand
touch yawlboat, with several excited
sailors from the navy yard il. it. Will
ing hands seized me. and was
dragged over the aunwale of the boat.
and Just in time to escape the dash
Of the second shark, which had re-
mained on the surface, waiting for me
to come up.
"rPhnf was fIn c1oSoSf colI avor