ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 19 



man, and the reward was never claimed. I forget whether he con- 

 fined his offer to the vicinity of New York and the Jersey coast, or 

 included the coast farther south, but think he covered the entire 

 eastern coast in his offer. Now, I know of two instances where Sharks 

 have evidently eaten the arms and legs off a man, but it cannot be 

 proven in either case that the men were alive. The first instance 

 was a canoeist who attempted to cross Mosquito Inlet one evening just 

 before dark with the ebb tide running full force. He was carried out 

 and capsized, two or three people at Ponce Park witnessing the perform- 

 ance. His body was found two or three days afterwards with nearly 

 all the limbs eaten off, surely by Sharks, for there are no other fishes 

 there to do it. The mail carrier between Lake Worth and Biscayne Bay, 

 up to seven or eight years ago, carried the mail by walking on the 

 beach, crossing Hillsboro and New River inlets in boats, which he kept 

 for that purpose. One trip he " turned up missing," and was searched 

 for. His body was found with the limbs wholly or partly eaten off. 



No one will ever know whether, in either or both cases, the 

 Sharks attacked them in the water, or eat them after death. 



While at Indian Key some three years ago we were told that a 

 man, a few days before our arrival, while groping around a small 

 wreck in the channel in about four feet water, after Crawfish, was 

 attacked by a Shark about five feet long and bitten badly in the leg. 

 He had to go to Key West for surgical and medical treatment. This 

 seems to be an authentic case. I believed the story because it was of 

 very recent date, told in apparently the utmost candor simply as a 

 piece of news, and without any motive to tell an untruth. 



During the summer of 1901, Michael O'Brien, a resident of Wood- 

 ley, near Indian River Narrows, while bathing in the surf, a few 

 miles north of Indian River Inlet, was attacked by a large Shark which 

 came between him and the shore and bit him badly on his side near 

 his stomach or bowels, the wound being a very dangerous one. 



He was taken to Fort Pierce and carried on a stretcher to Doctor 

 C. P. Piatt, under whose care he recovered. The above was told to 

 me by Mr. R. C. Somerlin of Saint Lucie, whom I know to be per- 

 fectly reliable, and the incident is well known to the residents of 

 Fort Pierce and Saint Lucie. 



Here is a well authenticated case of a Shark attacking a live man, 

 one where the attacked party, and many witnesses, are alive and can 

 be called upon to substantiate the facts in the case. 



