Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-02-25
Monster is Probably 50 Feet Long
and VIII Weigh Fully 5000
Pounds Now al buCkrOe.
TOOK TWO BOATS TO TOW HIM IN
Hundreds Of People Will Probably Go
TO the Beach Today, as the Street
Car Company VIII Run Special Cars
for the puroose.-The Catch Is Val
liable.

A monster black whale. between
fnr,y-tive and sixty feet long. ana
weighing probably S.o0n pounds. yeas
found dead in the fishing nets OF the
Mcssrs. Dixon. at BuckrOe Beach. yes
trrdav morning. The fishermen. aft
era DAYS struggle. succeeded in tow
ing the monster 10 Buckroe Beach.
and now the big fish is tied to the
pleasure pier at the popular resort
When found IS the fishermen the
whale was bleeding profusely from an
ugly cash in his head. which had
crushed his skull. and it Is supposed
that the monster was either struck
bv passenger steamer or some OF
the sea going vessels. Il probably
was injured late Tuesday night or
cariv Yesterday morning. as the opin-
ion is. held that the whale was prob
ABLY dead a short while before he
driftpd into the Messrs. Dxon's nets
Leaving Buckroe al II O'Clock yes
tcrday morning to go TO the nets
Mr.. Taylor Dixon. and a crew of six
fisherman. made the trip in two large
fishing scOwS. when nearing the nets
Mr.. Dixon noticed an unusual object
in the nets 1t was thought among
the fishermen that a small sailing
vessel had capsized and the men were
fully of the opinion that some disas'
ter would be revealed. They were
greatly surprised to discover that the
object was a whale when they came
M to the nets. The work OF get
ting the whale from the nets. with
ont destroying the tw.ne was the
urOpOsitiOn that confronted Mr.. Dixon
and his fishermen.
Finally the men attached a rope
around the tail of the dead monster
and then tied the other end to the
boat 1t was too much of task TO
null the load. so the second ScOW
was brought into service and in this
way tn" fishermen finally got the
big whale out of the nets.
Once out of the nets. the fishermen
cyan the work of towing the finf
to the shore. The seas were heavy
and the weather was bad. II was
difficult task and the crews of the two
vessels worked like Trojans. Short
~ after 4 o'clock the fishermen land
ed the big catch at Buckroe and tied
the dead monster with chains to the
piles under the pleasure pier just in
front of the BuckrOe Hotel.
TWENTY-FIVE men attempted to turn
the whale over as it was lying in
the water with stomach skyward.
when DR.. Dixon found him. The men
were unable to bulge the whale and
!. will remain on its back until this
morning. when Mr.. Dixon will at
tempt to drag him ashore with
twenty horsepower gasOlene engine
The lody OF the dead whale protrudes
about four feet out of the water.
Although it was nearly dark when
tn" fact that a whale had been cap
t,red at Backroe became noised
around the lower peninsula and the
rain was coming down in torrents.
hip crowd went to the beach TO see
the monster. The Newport News and
Old Point Railway and Electric Com
panv has arranged to run special cars
to the beach today. so that the To-
cal people can see the monster IL
they desire.
Those who saw the whale yester-
day were unable to say whether the
whale is Of the ordinary black spe-
cies. from which the valuable oil is
taken, or belongs to the sperm spe-
cies. In the latter event the whale
is worth a large sum Of money on
account of the sperm oil.
During the pas, ten days a school
OF seven whales has been reported
as playing around Back river light
house and the capes.
A number Of people saw the mon
stcrs last Monday