A*: 



?aV? 



: <iS^M 



THE METOUMl 



iXV' 



;i ^a 



:£<v 



THE STRENUOUS LIFE OF A TURTLE 



Editor Recreation : 



Not green, not even a real turtle, only a 

 little land tortoise about the size of the 

 crown of your hat, but what tenacity to life. 



I have so often heard stories of this kind, 

 but, like fish stories, laughed at them, even 

 when good. But facts tell and facts were 

 forced on me when a live tortoise was 

 brought in by Mr. W. W. Washington, from 

 the Howard Gould Estate, at Sands Point, 

 Long Island, with instructions to mount it 

 walking (as lifelike as possible). Now, I 

 had heard, as I said before, many sto- 

 ries of how hard it was to kill a turtle, 

 or rather how long it took to extinguish the 

 vital spark, but, like fish stories, I discounted 

 them largely. However, I will now make 

 apologies to all my friends on the subject 

 (with witnesses to corroborate). 



On Thursday, October 12, at 10 a. m., I 

 received a tortoise, to mount. The custom is 

 to chloroform such specimens, but curiosity 

 and the desire to prove what I considered in- 

 credulous, I cut its throat, and took close 

 record of the time it took to really exter- 

 minate life from the reptile. Note the fol- 

 lowing : 



October 12, tortoise in strong, healthy 

 form; 10 a. m., throat cut well back, spinal 

 column and all muscles severed ; at 6 o'clock 

 p. m., the mouth was going through the mo- 

 tions of breathing (in distress). All blood 

 had apparently left the body, but rather in 

 sympathy I refrained from cutting it open 

 and hung it up, head down, till 8 a. m. of the 

 13th inst, at which time the nervous or mus- 

 cular life appeared to be not in the least di- 

 minished. I then placed the tortoise in a pail 

 of water, with sufficient weight on top to 

 keep it under, in hopes of drowning out 

 whatever vitality remained; at 10 a. m., just 

 24 hours after we had cut its throat I took 

 it from the water and found that the nervous 

 or muscular life was as strenuous as ever. 



Believing that there was no real feeling of 

 pain, I opened one side of the under shell 

 (which was of hinge-like form) and care- 

 fully and completely removed the vitals (the 

 lungs, liver and heart), which was then ap- 

 parently working in normal condition. 



This statement, no doubt, seems as in- 

 credulous to the reader as it did to the 

 writer, but is a fact. These vitals were laid 

 carefully on the table. The heart continued 



to beat, or pulsate, raising almost clear off 

 the table. I then cut the liver and lungs 

 away, leaving only the heart, the larger ar- 

 teries, and about an inch of the windpipe. 

 The heart continued to pulsate and raise 

 with a strong, regular movement up from the 

 table. At 10:30 I made an incision, cutting 

 the heart almost in two, and the sections con- 

 tinued to beat or throb with strong muscu- 

 lar action, gradually the action grew weaker, 

 and at 11 a. m., I applied a little fine salt, 

 when the action again started, strong, but 

 quick, and finally at 11.40 ceased. 



Returning to the body, which was to be 

 mounted as lifelike as possible, I found the 

 muscular life was there in all its strength, 

 and it was with difficulty that I forced the 

 limbs out from the shell sufficiently far to 

 skin them, so strong was the muscular life 

 still remaining, even lacking all vital power 

 and vital circulation. 



I would not dare relate the above had I 

 not several witnesses. I myself was so sur- 

 prised, in fact had such an uncanny feeling 

 come over me, that after mounting the tor- 

 toise I wired him strongly to prevent his 

 escaping, thereby losing the profits of my la- 

 bor. Wm. W. Hart. 



IS THE WARDEN ASLEEP? 



Editor Recreation: 



I wish to call your attention to the total 

 disregard of the game laws at Rye Lake, 

 Westchester County, about three miles north 

 of White Plains. Myself and friends have 

 occasion to visit this country nearly every 

 Sunday, and it is a shameful fact the number 

 of men and boys to be seen gunning there. 

 No bird or beast, however small, is safe 

 when they discover it. The law plainly says 

 that no gunning is allowed on any of the 

 New York City water reservations, and the 

 shooting I complain of is on the lake or 

 within the 250-foot strip belonging to the 

 city — and on Sunday. 



A short time ago there was a family of 

 beautiful white herons that located along the 

 shore, but one by one they were destroyed. 

 Also there is to be seen nearly any Sunday 

 fishermen using from 50 to 100 floats scat- 

 tered over- the lake with hook and bait at- 

 tached to each line, against which there is a 

 penalty. 



If there is a game or fish warden near 



5&5 



