Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1894 — FIVE MEN AND AN OCTOPUS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FIVE MEN AND AN OCTOPUS.

Desperate Fight with a Sea Monster NeartheGolUeiri&aTte. San Francisco Examiner. The largest octopus ever caught in the vicinity of the Golden Gate was brought in by Nicholas Panay ind his crew of four men in the fishing boat Alexandria. They had been fishing near the Duxbury reef since last Monday morning, and they were meeting with fair success. On Thursday they hooked this monster and a battle was the result. Gustav Antani was pulling the long line with its many hooks, while his companions were taking off the fish and rebaiting the hooks. Suddenly there came a strong, sullen pull at the line, and the fishermen thought it had become entangled in the rocks of the reef. The hooks used by the fishermen are yielding and easily bent, so that they can be dislodged should they become caught, and Gustave gave a pull on the line to loosen it. It gave wav, but there was a dead weight on

it, and the astonished fishermen began- taking in the line slowly, wondering what made it drag so heavily. He soon discovered a long arm shoot up from the surface of the ocean only a few feet away from the boat, and others soon followed it. The water seemed full of the terrible snake like limbs, and the fishermen knew they had an octopus to deal with. The tentacles of the sea monster reached higher than the mast of their little vessel as it floundered about in the water, endeavoring seemingly to reach out for its captors. The sea was lashed into foam, and the little boat reeled and careened in the swirl and threatened every moment to lose its terrified occupants into the arms of the the monster. Gustav forgot all about his line. He let it go and reached for a hatchet with which to defend himself. The line paid out a few yards and the octopus sank, but the myriads of hooks caught on the gunwale of the craft as they flew -aver and the fish was held. The capture of such a fish is lucrative, and the fishermen determined to add it to their boat load. Chinamen are yery fond of the tentacles, and they eagerly purchase all that are caught. Gustav hauled again on the line, and for a few moments he wished that he had cut it instead. As the octopus was drawn nearer, it suddenly opened out its loilg arms and reached for the fishermen. One of its tentacles fell across the deck of the boat and its suckers gained a good hold. Others went around the keel, and almost instantly it had the boat in its embrace. A few welldirected blows of a hatchet freed the boat from immediate danger and several feet of one of the long feelers lay on the deck. Nicholas Panay stood ready with a sharp boat hook to give the death blow should the chance occur. Fishermen who have battled with this fish say the most vital spot in its ill-shapen body is just behind and between the eyes. The smallest weapon thrust into that spot will end the life of the most formidable of the sea horrors. Their long, sucker-like arms can be chopped off inch by inch without producing any apparent effect, and the advantage gained by the fishermen is small. So far in the battle the octopus had kept under the boat and the fishermen had been unable to get in the death blow. After a feeler had been chopped off, the octopus somewhat released his hold and the strong pull on the line by Gustav hauled the body of the fish up on that side of the boat. Still the vital spot could not be reached; slowly all the remaining tentacles of the creature began to encircle the boat and the position of the fishermen became serious. Art extra boat hook was reached over the side and it caught in the flesh of the octopus. A long, hard, steady pull brought the vital spot nearer the surface, and, with a swift blow, the weapon wielded by Panay was plunged deep between the eyes of the terror of the seas. Slowly the dreadful tentacles unfolded and the dreaded fish relaxed his hold on the boat. It took all hands to haul him on board and they exulting by exhibited their capture at the fishermen’s market. The huge fish was hoisted to the roof of the market, fully thirty feet high, and its long arms swept the floor. It had not been hanging long before a crowd they soon struck a bargain with the plucky fishermen and carried it off.

JAMES III. OF SCOTLAND, SLAIN WHILE FLEEING FROM BANNOCKBURN, 1488.