The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-03-17
GIBBONS GATOR CAUSES sPAsMs
IN OLD GOTHAM
Little crommie" scatters constrena-
tion Among WaIdorf-Astoria
Hotel Guests

tion Among WaIdorf-Astoria
Hotel Guests
The New York Sun tells the follow
ing laughable story or an alligator
which Col Cromwell Gibbons took to
New York as a present to barber in
the Waldorf-Astoria, who shaves the
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-Astori 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 coused some ex-
citement might be considered super
fiuous. but truth is truth.
The alligator made his appearance
almost simultaneously with the arri-
val of Judge Cromwell Gibbons of
Jacksonville, Fla. This happened to
be before the hour when many persons
in the hotel had got up. Judge Glib
bons, after registering, drifted around
to the information desk and asked the
number of friends room, and when
the clerks gaze began to lift from
the index book he saw the gator
crawling along in front of him. His
remarks and a description of his emo
tons are omitted at his personal re.
quest, but there was something doing
until Judge Gibbons grabbed the rep
tile by the back and put him into his
pocket. A little later the barber
shop which is in the basement, look
ed as if it might have been where the
roof belongs.
Judge Gibbons had been importuned
by 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 shoI
and fetched his hand out with {
Here's your gator, Herman
Herman reached forth his hand
from habit, but when his finger!
touched the gator he let out yell ant
the alligator fell to the floor ant
scampered off toward the manicure
department, scattering the population
thereof, and causing as many fits al
Iif it had been a mouse. Then it tool
a tack over to the tonsorial 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 les!
than foot long, but some Floridiar
who had been getting shaved there
every morning had told the face sur
geons that if you put your hand any
where near little alligator's mouth
The would snap your fingers off, ant
they didn't know but this one Nigh
have a fancy for toes. Judge Gibbon.
had to catch the gator and put him il
collar box, and later in the day he
was put in larger quarters and showT
to visitors who had heard about him
Every Floridian who has been com
ing to the Waldorf lately has been pre-
dieting 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 a
candidate. He preferred yesterday
apropos of the snowstorm into which
he had stepped on arriving here, to
tell how the peach, fig and plum trees
were in blossom when he left home.
"We have had magnificent win
ter" said Judge Gibbons. Our hotels
are filed, and the country had big
ger crowd of people in it this season
than it has ever had. The markets are
full of fruits and fresh vegetables, and
we have had. no frost at all this win
ter. We are getting in large num-
Der 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 25 cents box duty, and
we could use some of their products
in the summer
"The great subject of interest in
Florida today is the drainage of the
Everglades. We are accomplishing an
engineering feat in that connection
which means $75,OOO,O0O in profits to
the state for school purposes, for the
money derived from the sale of re-
claimed lands will be the most fertile
alluvial soil in the country. Up to
date about per cent of the 100000
acres has been reclaimed, and the
work has been going on only during
the last two years. We are building