The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-09-03
Robert Brinkopf Traps Two
Monsters With Teeth
Like Spears.
KRUGER BROTHERS
TELL WEIRD STORY
Say Man Was Attacked By
Fish And Badly
Mangled.

Following the capture within the
last three days of two giant alligator
gars, dangerous scavenger fish, by a
Cape sportsman, local fishermen and
sportsmen have become alarmed for
the safety of swimmers in waters
cmptying into the Mississippi River in
this vicinity.
Many sportsmen who go by boat to
small streams north of town to fish
and hunt and at the same time indulge
in morning plunge are warned
against the presence of gar fish that
may attack them while in the water
The mouths of small streams and
the shallow water along the banks of
the big river form the natural habitat
of the gar fish and the specimens that
have been brought to town indicate
that the scavengerS are present in
very large sizes.
A couple days ago, Bob BrinkOpf
and some friends, while fishing be-
tween the Big and Little Flora, caught
giant alligator gar that measured
more than four and a half feet in
length and weighed 33 pounds.
1t was a peculiar specimen, in that
it had a comparatively short pair of
jaws and an extremely wide head. The
head was about seven inches in width
and each of the jaws was lined with
knife-like tusks sharpended to almost
razor keenness.
The fish when captured put up a
hard fight, despite the fact that it was
virtually drowning itself when the
men were taking it in. The gar enter
ed net the men had out and at the
end of the net, attempted to cut its
way out by simply swapping through
the meshes.
1t caught the small hoop at the end
of the net in its jaws and was unable
to close down through the hoop. The
mouth was held open and the fish
could not prevent itself from swollOw-
ing water, so that it gradually was
drowned.
The fight the scavenger put up,
however, was intensely desperate and
even after the giant had been lifted in
to the boat, it continued to struggle.
Tuesday evening, the same party
went out and encountered another des-
perate fight with a giant gar of diff
ferent species.
This specimen was more than -four
feet in length and had jaws about 2
feet in length. The long pointed head
was scarcely more than three inches
thick, but the mouth was lined with ar
array of sharp teeth, even more dan,
gerous than the first giant captured.
This fish was captured in much the
same way as the first. BrinkOpf
bruoght both fish to the Cape anC
turned them over to Louis and Martir
Krueger, sportsmen, who are stuffing
the first specimen.
When Louis Kruger set to WORK
cleaning the square jawed giant, his
knife had no effect upon the metal
like shell that covered its body. AS ht
chopped it open with hatchet, the
sparks flew from the point of contac
much as if he were chopping upor
flint stone.
He carried the fish to the Kruege1
farm west of town, where it will bt
prepared for mounting.
Cape fishermen and sportsmen tel
stories of swimmers in the Mississippi
River who have been slashed by tn
gar fish while near the shore.
One man, several years ago, afte
swimming to the east side of the river
had virtually his entire stomach an
back laid open by the slash of a gian
gar that attacked him while he was i
the water. He recovered after havini
been rescued by friends in a boa
nearby.
It is said that the attacks of gar fis
probably account for the drowning o
many swimmers who are believed t
have been stricken with cramps an
gone under without ever rising to tn
surface again.
| The gar fish attain tremendous size
south of here, and in recent years
t specimens even larger than those car