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Correspondence Marianna (Fla.) Courier.A Horrible Heath.'While hirating near tbe coast a few days since, it was my misfortune to witness a most sickening and heart rending scene, near a bayou. My companion aDd self had been hunting two or three days previous near the locality, and shot four deer, one of which ran toward that spot so badly wounded that I thought it would fall within two hundred yards of tbe place at which it was shot; but as we hud as many as we desired for that day, we did not trace it. On our return two days afterward, to hunt near thea r .• « • % rmI lsame place, I noticed buzzards fly-the suog near the spot where I suspected that the deer hud gone, aud suggested to my compauion to go to it, just to satisfy myself that I was correct in my surmise, and also to show him bow accurately I could shoot; for he continually taunts me with the number of deer that carry with them the evidence of my poor marksmanship. On approaching the spot the steuch was so unpleasant that we were i» the act of retracing our steps, when I noticed a buzzard hop as if chased, and insisted on going far enongh to be satisfied that IO owas correct. Ou uearer approach, a most horrible scene was before ns. About tweuty paces from a bay ou, a number of immense alligators were keeping off a flock of buz^ zards from a partially eaten and decomposing body of a human being and, near by, the carcass of a panther ! the head and limbs of the human being were severed from the body, and were scattered in an area of fifteen feet. The head was bruised, scratched, swollen and eaten so that it could not be recognized except that it was a white man’s.— Nearly all the flesh was eaten off the bones, and so recently, too, that the trace of large teeth vveue noticeable. The carcass of the panther was also devoured. A large, heavy sailors knife, stained with blood, was near the trunk of the human being, and there were other evidences of a desperate struggle for life between the man and panther. As we approached none of the guardians over the dead moved until my companion threw a heavy pine knot in their midst, when the smaller retreated to the water—the larger moving sullenly in that direction, but never going farther than theedge, all. the timo closely watching every movement we made.When my companion began to collect the bones of the man for interment, while I held both guns, the alligators, near the edge, became ferocious and about ten rushed madly toward us. We , stood our ground, and fired four times, fatally wounding, if not killing, as many alligators. \ looked toward the bayou and its surface was covered with alligator heads as far as tbe eye could reach* which came toward the shore, I suppose to learn the cause of alarm. As we did not wish to wage war with the alligator kingdom, amid the stench which was nearly stifling, we retreated.All inquiry has failed to furnish any information in regard to the man, except what has been detailedabove. It is conjectured that he was an unfortunate sailor who had been shipwrecked and cast ashore, and who* in seeking to reach some habitation of man was overtaken by the sad misfortune which befell bim.l. fTHjSt. Andrews Bay, N'ov. 7, ’73.
Newspaper Details
Cuthbert Appeal
Cuthbert, Georgia, US
Fri, Dec 05, 1873
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
MI, USA 01 Jun 2021
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