Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1886 — Stories of Turtles. [ARTICLE]

Stories of Turtles.

J. C. Banks, of Olney, 111., caught a land turtle in 1865 and cut his initials on the shell, East week he"fOund the same turtle in his garden,within a short distance of the place where he saw it twenty- one years ago. A hotel-keeper at Washington, Ga., says a turtle’s head was cut, off and thrown into the back yard of his hotel. Twenty-four hours later it caught a chicken by the foot and held on until its jaws were forced open by the hotel man. Colonel J. G. Johnson, of Cherry Hill, Md., found a land turtle in 1812 and cut in its shell his initials and the date. In 1848 the turtle was found by E. D. Clayton, a neighbor of Colonel Johnson. Mr. Clayton found the'turtle again last week. It was crawling about the tomb of Colonel Johnson, who died forty years ago. Louis Cronenberg, of Columbia, S. C., was bitten on the foot by a snapping turtle. He attempted to force the turtle’s mouth open, whereupon the creature caught him by the finger and' bit it badly. A local paper gravely says: “Fortunately it was thundering at the time and the turtle let go hi§ hold without further trouble.”

Two colored men quarreled in a market at Raleigh, N. C., and one of them swung a ten-pound mud turtle above his head and then brought it down upon the head of the other man. The blow inflicted a deep wound, and the wielder of the turtle was arrested. The court will now be called upon to decide whether the turtle is a deadly weapon. Jake Becker, a Louisville fireman, bought two snapping turtles and started to carry them home. One of the turtles snapped at a passing negro and grabbed him by the coat. * While Becker was trying to pull the turtle’s head away the other turtle grabbed his hand. In the excitement which followed the first turtle seized Becker’s free hand. Neither would let go its hold, and Becker ran home with a turtle dangling from each hand. The creatures’ heads were cut off and still their jaws clung, but were finally torn away with

great difficulty. Becker’s hand* were so lacerated that he* was laid off from duty.