Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1905-04-07
A SUBMARINE Adventure
HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE OF Elk.
PERT SWIMMER FROM
A SHARK.
GEL Lobo Marino," Man-Eating Terror
of the Coast - Warning Disre-
~garded-In Water with Mon
ster lowering Above.
BY Hon. wauhope Lynn.
<Ex-Judee Of First District Court of New
York;

This stDty does not deal with n cx-
perience Of mine as Judge or states
man, but OF a period Of my life when was
a young. IA very young-and very In
experienced lawyer.
Had / been less young and less ex-
perienced ! would not have risked my
newly acquired foothold at the New
York bar by accepting an invitation
from a friand of my fathers to spend
three months at his Cuban plantation.
But I was 4. bit run down by overwork,
and I fanc.ed | could wrestle more
doughtily with the problem of snatch
ing fame and fortune from a profession
already " rcrowded if | could first get
a change of air and complete rest.
So cary in November Of a certain
year farther back than | care to re-
member, I found myself a welcome and
IA decidedly happy guest at one of the
finest plantations on the Cuban coast.
The Whole place was like a fairyland
to my New York eyes-a dreamy, lazy
tropical. multicolored fairyland. For
. weeks | amused myself loaing about,
= oluus IHS HdllNc CuStOllS, chIlpl ms ~
, 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,
The one drawback to my perfect en-
joyment was the fact that, despite the
nearness and delicious warmth of the
clear water, | was implOred most ur-
gently by my host never to go swim
ming.
But, why not?" l asked him, when
ne first preached the subject. This
is an ideal sheet of water for bathing,
and just think of what fun it will be
to write my friends at home, who are
beginning to SILVER under the advance
of winter, and tell them | swim in the
ocean every day in November"
I'm sorry" he replied courteously,
"to deprive you of any pleasure, and
more especially to rob you of the de-
light of Growing over your Gotham
friends. But I'm afraid you might not
live to record that swim"
Now. I prided myself on my skill
and power as a swimmer. At the sea-
side | usually found little trouble in
SURPRISING the average bather when It
came to sprinting, to distance SWIM
ming" or to swimming under water.
Also I had won one or two prizes for
the same sport while in college.
at isn't through any fear of your
drowning that I ask you not to go
swimming here" said my host when !
had explained this. "But-well, the
waters of the bay aren't safe for swim
mers."
Being, as | have said, very young,
and being. moreover, strongly possess
ed of the legal spirit of investigation,
| pressed him to explain.
I'VE don't like to speak of it around
here" he said at length, because it is
a tragic subject to more than n of
us. Have you heard the native negroes
or the Spaniards about here mention
ell lobo marino?"
"Yes," | said, after a moments
thought; passing by the quarters last
night | heard a negro mother tell her
baby that unless it stopped crying 'el
iobo marine would catch him. Ny
Spanish is still a bit rusty, but 'Iobo
marino' shotId mean sea wolf | sup
rosed it was some local bugaboo when
nhe said it,"
1T is not answered my host, gravely.
ut is a shark
81 thought tiburon was the Spanish
word for shark" | said,
at is replied he. ITS the generic
name fof shark. But the shark which
has madr Ills bay a terror to swimmers
has the LEGAL nickname of ell lobo ma
rino. Sometimes he is spoken of as ell
calamidad del mar (the scourge of the
sea-. He it is that Keeps our beautiful
bay free Of bathers.'
"You speak of him as If there were
but one shark there" | laughed. docs
this particular monster m~onopolize the
shark busiLess in these parts"
mo; there are many sharks in the
bay; Just a. there are all along these
islands, but for the most part no one
minds them much. They are usually
too small to do any great damage, ever
we're they not more afraid of man than
man is OK them. A six-foot shark could
not mako much headway in eating a six
foot man. But" he added, more seri-
ously, eel lrbo marino is a very differ
ent propose zion"
How .arge is he?" | asked, curiously
"All sorts OF rumors are abroad as To
his size" responded the narrator. per