AN ALLIGATOR DEVOURS A GIRL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 215, 1 September 1876, Page 4

AN ALLIGATOR DEVOURS A GIRL.

There lived io Calcutta a lovely girl of seventeen, who waa engaged to a man she was much attached to; her father, however, did not approve of the match, and was anxious (hat she should marry another man who bad proposed to her some time before. This second lover, backed up by tbe father, was most assiduous in his attentions, and ultimately hoped to win the girl, who on her part disliked him intensely, and declared! she would only marry the man she was engaged to and no one else. Ali of a sudden the girl disappeared, and though every search was made for j her no intelligence oould be gained of her, nor was there any apparent reason for her mysterious absence. Suspicion j fell on both lovers, especially on the one whose suit she had rejected, for it was well known that he was highly incensed againet her for her indifference towards him. They were both arrested ahd imprisoned, albeit they declared their innocence and also their sorrow and astonishment at her disappearance. It was ascertained that she was last seen alive going to the " tank " with her pitcher to draw water, and that sbe had never been seen since. On thjs it was determined to bave the tank dragged, which was accordingly done. The first time they found nothing, however they tried again; on this occasion they felt something very. heavy in the net; presently they saw the huge head of an alligator, and soon after heard a tremendous splash which broke the net and allowed the animal to escape. They immediately commenced to make another net ot extra strength and not likely to be broken by tbe alligator. When it was finished they dragged the tank, but to their amazement, nothing of the alligator was Been. "Where oan it be?", they exclaimed, " surely we were hot deceived, we all saw it; and yet, if it was in that tank we must have caught it." Some one proposed that they should drag the tank from the opposite side. This they did and their efforts were crowned with success, for they captured the alligator and brought him Safe to land; he was of monstrous size and a most ferocious monster. Inside of him tbey found no end of gold and silver anklets and native ornaments; some of them were recognised by tbe bereaved father as belonging to bis poor daughter, for they were the same she wore on the evening sbe was last seen walking toward tbe tank. The grief of her friends on this terrible discovery can be better imagined than described. She must have put down her pitcher into the water quite unconscious of danger, when she was seized by the monster and in a moment dragged down. Not a soul knew of the existence of the alligator in the tank. It was the oniy one there, and bad a habit of hiding under tbe shelving of rock on one side of tbe tank. How tbe monster got into that tank and where it came from are questions alone for naturalists to answer. I have heard, though I cannot vouch for tbe trutb, tbat alligators have been known to travel great distance at night. This animal must have walked straight through tbe populous city of Calcutta to the tank unobserved.— Calcutta paper.