Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1876 — A Fight With a Shark. [ARTICLE]

A Fight With a Shark.

The Pensacola (Fla.) Gazette of a recent date has the following account of an exciting adventure: Capt John B. Guttmann, of the Pensacola Guards, signalized himself in an odd encounter last Friday and came out first best. Riding down to the shore of Escambia Bay, the Captain noticed a strange commotion in the water, and that the beach for a considerable distance was covered with fish from six inches to a foot and a balf in length, some dead and some still jumping, while others continued to spring from the water, above which showed the sharp dorsal fin of a shark, cutting the surface as he pursued the fish. The sporting spirit of the Captain was fired, and springing from his buggy he opened his pocket-knife, with a blade less than three inches long, and rushed into the water; which was thigh-deep, where he encountered the shark, and pushed his little knife into itr The creature did not seem to feel it, and its hide was so tough that the Captain could not rip it, so he continued his thrusts, while the shark endeavored to turn so as to seize him. Finally the shark felt the blade, and, retreating twelve or fifteen feet, charged buck with a rush. The Captain sprang aside as it attempted to bite him, ana seized it by the fin, which was ten inches long, and plied his knife while they waltzed round, the shark continually turning in the endeavor to bile. Finding his knlfe of no avail against the nine lives of the shark, the Captain caught up a short, heavy piece of drift-wood, which opportunely came within reach, and as the' fish threw its head out of water, struck it a severe blow at the base of the skull whioh instantly stunned it. He then threw it ashore, where it was dispatched. It was exactly five feet in length. In the earliest stages of the conflict Capt. G. ’s three companions, ? who were oft In the woods at Us beginning came out on the bluff and called out in alarm: ”It’s a shark! come out of the water!” That Prussian gave his lips their usual twist and simply said, “ I know it,” and went on withnis amusement, which he says is almost equal to some fun hehas had with ’ bears and bull bisona, numbers of both of which he has slain.