Norwich bulletin., 1919-09-09
GEERS' ALLIGATOR STORY, =
 OR SPIKE. THE DOG CATCHER

During one of the wet days at
 POughkeepSie, when the Celebra ted
 driver Ed Geers. whom everybody ad-
 mires for his skill and truthfulness.
 was having the F,tawah colt Tombig
 bee shod he said that the younsster
 was named after big southern riv-
 CT T. rises in Mississippi and en-
 ters Alabama in Pickens county, aft
 CT which 1t is joined hy the Sipsey
 and Warrior rivers before it unites
 with the Alabama to form the Mobile.
 Later on. Ed who is a great fox
 hunter remarked that when he was racing in the south there were plenty of alligators in the Tom bigbee. One
 of his old friends lived in a town on it's banks. He was a noted fox hunt
 CT, kept a splendid pack of hounds, and caught aIligators forz their hides He also owned a pet alligator called Spike, which he used as a decoy. He would come for food every evening when he heard the hounds barking. As he was usually followed by two or three others, Eds friend made a
 the followers. while Spike returned to the river.
 This proved very profitable until Spike developed a fOndness for dogs. Ii came about in this way. The fish errpen built a float on the bank of he river on which they pulled up their boats They also cleaned their fish there leaving the heads. fins and tails for the town dogs to quarrel over.
 SpikN fwho got his name from breaking a. few teeth on an iron bar noticed this. He would laff off the float with only his eyes above the water until all the dogs were gone He would then turn around and wiggle his tail nea rthe surface. This would attract the attention of the dog and he would run to the edge of he float. AS | edid. Spike would make sweep with his tail and knock him in i+ quire an Gray of Spikes stomach to locate the dog.
 This new appetite of Spikes made a lot of trouble but the most of 1t fell CT the state or county laid dog tax of a dollar and gave the county clerk | One-haf dollar to collect it. After l going over the tax returns he sent l when they paid that his share from i the tax and tags amounted to $1S40. | He then started out to canvas the col ] o~ed people and added much more to his bank account. while the blacks | had to go without luXuries for weeks T ehcounty clerk told Spikes own CT what a. good thing the tax was for him, while on wet days he fgur- ed up his accounts and concluded that in en or fifteen years he would get enough from this source to retire or buy a plantation- And he possibly would If il had not been Tor spike as in the course of a year, the oldde- coy and the allgators, that saw what 1e was doing whenever he heard a leg bark. made such inroads on the logs that they were getting scarce.
 As soon as the county clerk saw what was being done. he decided to act in self defence. Getting posses sion of a small dog, re fastened a lit le bag filled with strychnine to its collar and dropped him to the edge of he float. Spike saw him and with whisk of his tail and a gulp the log and the strychnine where many If those wearing tags had preceded Jim. In a few minutes there was a errible commotion in the Tombigbee. As it subsided, Spike floated belly up awards the shore.
 When Spikes owner heard of the Ieath of his decoy, he was furious, IS it meant a serious inroad on his uppiy of hides. Also when he learn d that he wos poisoned by the coun- y clerk, he used his influence with he chairman of the county democratic i