CROCODILES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 134, 29 January 1932, Page 2

CROCODILES

eveR present danger in northern territory outback

HORRORS OF NORTH.

SYDNEY, Friday. Now iri Sydney is Mr. D. Clarke, who-, 'dui-ihg a lifetime iri the N.T. outback, has herird of many crpcodile horrors; rivalling thrit on the Seymofif River, riear Iri.ghaxh, wheh a reptile tbre Betty Doherty, aged four, from her brother's arms. She was either eaten or buried in the iriver mud. Jiist before the Var, a station manager on a property on Bradshaw's Creek (off the Victoria River) was lying on the lawn in front of the h'ouse, 50 yards ahove the river. Inside, his wife was resting under the hets. _ She heard a scream, and dashed out to see a huge 'gator, with her husband in its mouth, waddling down to the. river.. ; She fqilofyed, screattung afid beating at its tail with 'a to'wei, which shq/had snatched up as shfe rush'ed from the house. - That Was th'e last she saw of her husband. Policeriiari Eaten. At Wyh'dham a policeihan was patrolling the beach, when an alligator (aS thb man-eating croc'odiles are called in the north) seized and ate him. v Two or three weeks later Jaeob Keuhl caught an alligator in a snare,

i . and, on operiing its helly, found buttbns from the policeman's tunic and fragments of his uniform. Among the natives of the Daly j and Alligator Rivers you will meet i many with stumps where arms once were. Lacking utensils for holding water, natives dip their hands into the rivers, and many an arm has been lo'st this way. "Run Like Blazes." • "How do you get away from an alligator?" Mr. Clarke was asked. "Run," said Mr. Clarke. "No good firing a rifle at him — he'll ignore your shots, and get you. "Still, he's a coward, and if you can beat a kerosene tin at him, he'll probably turn tail. But if he's once chasing you, run like blazes and climb the first tree. "Don't change your course — if you swing on one side, he'll swing his tail round and get you! Kaurits Death i6pot. "There's a river crossing at Bradshaw's, leading to the 'station, where the man was killed, and an old alligator has patrolled it for. 10 years. "No one » dare croSs without first bombing the "water with dynamite, or else getting a mob of natives to shout and beat the water with sticks.