. Breeder and sportsman. Horses. 156 *&c %xtt&*x <mtl jlpxrrismatt. Sept 8 Mountain Cayman. William Blackheath, who has just returned from a sis months' sojourn in Arizona, has brought to the Comstock the skin of what he, for want of a better name, calls a Gila mon- ster, but which is evidently that of a saurian of a different species. The skin now measures seven feet from tip to tip, and it has evidently shrunk some inches in drying. Though about the color of an ordinary Gila monster, the rep- tile is evidently a kind of inland crocodile, or, more properly, cayman, as it had not th
. Breeder and sportsman. Horses. 156 *&c %xtt&*x <mtl jlpxrrismatt. Sept 8 Mountain Cayman. William Blackheath, who has just returned from a sis months' sojourn in Arizona, has brought to the Comstock the skin of what he, for want of a better name, calls a Gila mon- ster, but which is evidently that of a saurian of a different species. The skin now measures seven feet from tip to tip, and it has evidently shrunk some inches in drying. Though about the color of an ordinary Gila monster, the rep- tile is evidently a kind of inland crocodile, or, more properly, cayman, as it had not the webbed feet of the crocodile. The strange saurian was found in a small valley in the "Wheatstone mountains. When alive it stood two feet high, and its body, just back of its fore legs, was over three feet in cir- cumference. The creature was as savage as a bulldog, and as full of fight as a viper. It was found by the dogs of Mr. Blackheath and partner. When the men arrived at the haunt of the reptile—to which they were attracted by the fierce and peculiar barking of their dogs, three in number—that one dog had al- ready been killed and the others were badly cut up and covered with blood. The creature displayed such activity and was so diabolical- ly vicious that the two prespectors feared to go near it, being armed with nothing but a prospecting pick and a shovel with a short handle. Finally the thing got one of the dogs by the fore leg, and finding that it held on like a ter- rier, with no sign of loosing its hold, Mr. Blackheath ran forward and struck his pick into its head. Even then the reptile held on, and it was not until it had been struck sever- al blows with the poll of the pick that its jaws relaxed and it gave up the ghost. When the dog was released it was found that his fore leg had been broken at a point about two inches above the knee. Mr. Blaekheath says he has met with sever- al of the creatures known as Gila monsters that were two feet and two-and-a-
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthorses, bookyear1882
