The following collection of stories was published in Michigan’s Grand Rapid’s Press on Friday, 7 May 1886.
Saved by a Calf
A story comes from Alabama to the effect that Four-year-old Dillie Welsh, while playing with a pet calf, went to a well and peeped over the low curb. The calf caught her dress in its mouth. The child lost her balance and would have fallen into the well if the calf had not held her for half an hour. When she was finally rescued, the calf showed great pleasure.
Hissteria in Connecticut
A Southington (Conn.) woman bought a hen the other day and killed it. As she was opening it scientifically, a snake about six inches long ran out, hissing in a lively manner.
A diminutive Florida lie
Last week, there was a dead alligator on Lucas Wharf that measured twenty and one-half feet. This saurian was killed in Rice Creek by Brown, a colored resident of that section.
Its circumference was something unusual and was much commented upon by those who saw it as it lay on the dock. Next day, the alligator was skinned and stuffed. When cut open, it was found to contain twenty bushels of eggs, two pine logs in a perfect state of preservation, a log chain, the bow stem of a boat, a negro boy, a small iron chest and lightwood splinters enough to steam any boat ten miles. Its body contained three hundred and fifty-one bullet marks and fifty pounds of lead.
© Mark Young 2026
Sources
Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men 
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