The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-03-04
GIBBONS GATOR
CAUSESSP ASMS
IN old GOTHAM
LITTLE cRoMMIE" scATTERs
CONSERVATION AMONG WAL
DoRF-AsToRIA HOTEL GUESTS.
MADE THEM "sEE THINGS
FLoRIDIAN TOOK ALLIGATOR
TO N. Y. FOR HIS BARBER.

The New York Sun tells the follow
ing laughable story Of an alligator
which Col Cromwell Gibbons took to
New York as a present to barber In
the Waldorf-Astoria, who shaves tho
Jacksonville candidate for Governor
when he visits New York Town:
There are rumors that now and then
snakes have been seen In one Of the
corridors leading from the popular re-
sort for gentlemen on the west side Of
the Waldorf-Astoria, but so far as can
be learned the alligator that made his
appearance in that region at an early
hour yesterday morning was the first
of his kind ever discovered. To add
that that discovery caused some ex-
element might be considered superfiu-
Gus, but truth is truth.
| The alligator made his appearance
almost simultaneously with the arrival
of Judge Cromwell Gibbons, of Jack
sonville, Fla This happened to be be-
| fore the hour when many persons in
the hotel had got up. Judge Gibbons
after registering drifted around to the
information desk and asked the num-
Der Of a friends room, and when the
clerks gaze began to lift from the In
dex book he saw the gator crawling
along in front of him. His remarks
and a description of his emotious are
omitted at his personal request, but
there was something doing until
Judge Gibbons grabbed the reptile by
the back and put him into his pocket.
A little later the barber shop, which is
| in the basement, looked as If it might
have been where the roof belongs.
Judge Gibbons had been importuned
by a barber named Herman, who is
his steady shaver when he visits New
York, to bring him a live alligator So
the judge walked into the barber shop
and fetched his hand out with a
Here's your gator, Herman"
Herman reached forth his hand,
from habit, but when his fingers
touched the gator he let out a yell
and the alligator fell to the floor and
scampered of toward the manicure
department, scattering the population
thereof and causing as many fits as II
| it had been a mouse. Then It took
a tack over to the tonsoriai depart
| ment, and middle-aged men who were
welding razors jumped about In ex
| element, and they do say that some
ran for shelter. The gator was less
than foot long, but some Floridian
who had been getting shaved there
every morning had told the face sur
geons that II you put your hand any
where near little alligator's mouth he
would snap your fingers of, and they
didn't know but this one might have q
fancy for toes. Judge Gibbons had to
catch the gator and put him into a
collar box, and later in the day he
was put in larger quarters and shown
to visitors who had heard about him.
Every F1oridian who has been COM
| ing to the Waldorf lately has been
predicting that Judge Gibbons will be
! the next Governor OF Florida, and
Judge Gibbons, who has been speaker
Of the lower house of the Legislature
Of that State. admitted that he was q
candidate. He preferred yesterday,
apropos of the snowstorm into which
he had stepped on arriving here. to tell
how the peach, hg and plum trees
were in blossom when he left home.
I'VE have had a magnificent winter"
said Judge Gibbons. Our hotels are
filled, and the country had q bigger
crowd of people in 1t this season than
It has ever had. The markets are fun
1 Oh anu IT0SIl vegetables, anu VIC
have had no frost at all this winter.
We are getting in a large number OF
new settlers from the West
Down there we are all in favor OF
reciprocity with Canada 1t would
mean that we could sell our strawber-
ries up there In December without
having to pay rs cents box duty, and
we could use some of their products
in the summer.
"The great subject of interest in
Florida to-day is the drainage of the
Everglades. We are accomplishing an
engineering feat in that connection
which means $4,000. 900 in profits to
money derived from the sale OF re-
claimed lands will be the most fer
! tile alluvial soil in the country. Up to
date about per cent of the 5000, 900
acres has been reclaimed and the work
has been going on only during the last
two years. We are building two big
canals, one on the west side and one
on the east side, with lateral canals
containing locks, so that we shall be
able to keep the water for irrigation
and navigation both.
THE outside public has a mistaken
impression that the Everglades are
filled with negro fugitives from jus
tice. The population of the unre-
claimed part consists Of pure blood
Indians, the descendants Of a remnant
of the Seminole tribe. who fed to the
swamps rather than be deported to the
Indian territory some fifty years ago
or more. They live in their primative
state and there are over 200 OF them.
They get no aid from the United
States for in the eyes of the Federal
Government they do not exist, but the
State looks after them"
Judge Gibbons expects to attend the
meeting of the Grand Lodge of the
Theta Delta Chi while in New York
this time