The Bennington Evening Banner

AUTO STUNNED ALLIGATOR

And the Honk Wagon Had a Party of Women Aboard.

St Louis, Mo, April 5-A party of women active in St. Louis society returned from Florida Monday with a thrilling account of how they killed an alligator with an automobile after an exciting chase through a palm tree grove.

Alligator hunting has become a fad which promises to grow. Miss Katherine Elkins recently killed one. So did Sarah Bernhardt. But neither used a touring car as the agent of destruction. That distinction belongs to Mrs. John J. O'Fallon, Mrs. Asa A. Wallace and Mrs. M. B. Morrell.

According to the women's story as their automobile swung around a curve just out of Tampa they saw a giant alligator sunning himself in the road less than fifty feet ahead. The chauffeur put on full speed and two wheels of the machine passed over his neck. He lay in the road stunned, but when the chauffeur cautiously approached he suddenly came back to life and ran into the woods.

Then began a long and tortuous chase among the towering palm trees. After being pursued more than a mile the alligator rolled over on his back as though dead.

Carrying a heavy mud chain, the chauffeur again approached. The alligator rolled over and showed fight. Opening his huge jaws he advanced, and the women who had stepped from the automobile hastily climbed back into it. The chauffeur finally landed what seemed to be a fatal blow.

Regaining their courage, the members of the party helped the chauffeur lash the saurian to the mud guard, and the machine was started back to Tampa. The motion of the automobile and the refreshing air revived the alligator. He slipped his head from the chain and tried to crawl into the automobile. The women lost no time in jumping out.

Again the chauffeur beat the alligator with a chain, and this time subdued him. The trophy then was dragged to the hotel.