Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1913 — STORIES From the BIG CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

STORIES From the BIG CITIES

Lacerta Carnegiensis in Water Pipe Two Years

DETROIT, MlCH.—Everybody know* what to expect when the ground hog comes out of his hole on Feb. 2 and sees his shadow, but what does it mean when a red alligator somes out of a drain pipe in October, and growls at you? That is what Nick Dippong, a laborer, is anxious to find out. Nick was employed on an excavation job at 32 Monroe avenue. He uncovered a small tile and broke it open with his pick. “Look out;" he yelled. “It’s coming out of the sewer.” Nick didn’t stop to explain what “it” was, but just breezed out of that basement. Other workmen decided Nick’s actions deserved an explanation, and they sought it in the basement. There was no mystery about it, however, for there near the tile lay the cutest little red alligator they had ever seen — not that they had ever seen one before, for they are all sober, industrious men. About this time Nick returned with

the “boss,” William J. Keegan, the contractor who had the excavating in eharge. Keegan has spent some time in Florida and knows all about alligators. Hence he was quite interested in a'red one that growled. One of the workmen with mors temerity than the others thrust a pencil at their strange find and promptly conceived a deep admiration for the animal’s dentistry, for the pencil was bitten squarely in two. “What have you got here, boys?” asked Keegan. “A—a —er, a—darn it—a red alligator,” answered he of the broken pencil. \ “A what? Well, 109 kat that! Wouldn’t that give T. R. a fit?” Keegan began humming softly and stretched out his hand. The alligator closed his eyes. Keegan picked him up gently and laid him in the palm of his hand, the while stroking his head and back. "You poor little cuss," he said-i “What you doing ’way up here?” "Carnegie,” as he was named that' on the spot, opened one eye and! showed his teeth in a slow grin. It has been recalled that a guest at a hotel about two years ago had two> young alligators and that one It is believed that “Carnegie’s” preß-> ence in the drain pipe can'be accounted for in this way. His unique color —a dull, brick red —• is explained by his two years’ resi J dence in the tile. •