Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-03
Rutland. Ill, Feb. 10, 1907.

again. With every confidence IN the
strength of his ropes Falconi now
turned his attention to his engines and
got up power. Then came the tug of
war: with every ounce of pressure he
could get out of his engine pulling
against the shark the dead weight of
the sloop, the leviathan towed the Vic
toria along almost as fast as before
in a SOU sou westerly direction for an
other five or six miles. Once more the
shark tired and was cautiously hauled
in close to the boat and near the sur
face, the head within easy reach.
Keeping clear of its formidable mouth
with it's serrated rows of small razor
like teeth, Falconi leaned over the side
of the Victoria and plunged a long
knife into the creatures gills, his arm
following the knife almost to the shoul-
der. Again there was a terrific smoth-
er: the engines We're put full speed
astern, the shark shot ahead with the
boat about quarter of mile, when
one of the ropes broke, flying back and
inficting an ugly blow upon one of
Falconi's helpers AS luck had it the
other rope and the net still held; the
shark had reached the end of his
tether. He made one plunge down.
ward, bringing the nose of the Victoria
dangerously near the surface, then
quieted down and allowed himself to
be slowly towed back to Santa Bar
bara, his life slowly ebbing. 1t was
O'Clock before the wharf was reached,
by which time life was practically eX-
tinct. Falconi and his men fought the
great "selachoidei'' for over ten hours,
and to their lasting credit won the
fight with flying colors.
Is Mammoth of Sharks
So far as present knowledge goes,
the bone shark (rhinodon typicus) is
the largest of all sharks, and has been
known to exceed a length of fifty feet,
and is stated to attain that of seventy.
Falconi's is fully forty-fiVe feet in
length and so far as can be estimated
as it lies beneath the surface along
side the Victoria, which is a little short
of that measurement. The captures
of very few specimens are on record;
one at the cape of Good Hope, one
near the Seychelles. where it is known
as the "chagrin," one on the coast of
lower California, and one quite re-
cently) on the coast of Peru. The snout
is extremely short, broad and fiat, with
the mouth and nostrils placed at it's
extremity; the gill openings very wide
and the eye very small. The teeth,
as in the basking shark. are extremely
small and numerous and conical in
shape.
May Profit by Capture
Falconi intends placing the leViathan
on exhibitions just how this is to be
done is not determined. Naturally he
is anxious to reap some return from
his tussle, and will try to fix the crea-
ture up so that a small charge may
be made for viewing it. Revenue from
this source cannot be prolonged, and
meanwhile every effort should be made
to get exact measurements, data as to
the creatures color Cat present a blu
ish gray about the under side of the
head and belly), and other points of i'm
terest that disappear with life. More
over, some scientific body should be
communicated with, and be induced to
make bid for this rare sharks pre-
serVation to the nation.
Some of the local fishermen declare
the bone shark has been known to
have been caught off the coast of Ore
gon, which is interesting, if true.
you say she is Is years older than
her husband, and yet they get along
beautifully?"
"Um. You see she brought up a
family of boys Of her own and knows
how to handle him."-Detroit Free
Press.