Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1880 — What Was Found in a Shark's Naw. [ARTICLE]

What Was Found in a Shark's Naw.

Dr SWah, the surgeon of the Pacific Mail steamship Colima, which arrived In this port a few days ago from the Isthmus, reports an incident of the trip worthy of mention. He states that while the£olim& was lying at Aoapulco, on the trip up, she anchored one day close to the steamship China. Some of tho honds on tho latter tnitri a hook and caught a shark of the man-eater variety about fifteen feet king. The shark was polled np and cut open, and in the belly was found a human arm entire, just as it had been torn by the devouring monster from the shoulder. There weds also found in the maw of the shark the heel and toes of a human foot The remains had evidently been swallowed but a short time. The arm was the left and upon it were plainly visible the initials tatooed in India ink, “A. H. C.” ' About ten days previous to the taking of the shark a sailor from a British brig then lying in the harbor, while under the inflnenoe of liquor, fell overboard and was lost. It is supposed that this shark had been feeding upon the body a short time before his capture. Ban Joee Joe, the monster shark of San Jose de Guatemala, was recently seen..by the Captain of the China. This shark has for many years been the terror Of the coast from San Jose de Guatemala to Punta Arena. He has been so frequently seen that he is as familiar to the mariners of that coast as its most perilous headlands. He is said to be over forty feet in length, and is extremely ferooious, human kind being his favorite prey. Captain Seabury, of the China, is ready to swear to fortytwo feet and over, having once seen Joe passing behind his vessel, which is forty two feet in the beam, and the head and tail of the shark extended past either side of the vessel. The Captain of the South Carolina and Captain Whiteberry bear testimony also to the shark’s being over forty feet long. In the last few years, “Joe,” as lie is known all along the coast, has devoured half a dozen men, and some years ago the Guatemalan Government offerea a reward of five hundred dollars to any one who would kill the devourer. He has been shot a eouple of times and harpooned thrice, but survived these assaults and still roams his old haunts looking for his favorite morceau. —San Frannsco Chronicle.