MEN DEVOURED BY SHARKS AT SYDNEY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2152, 24 April 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

MEN DEVOURED BY SHARKS AT SYDNEY.

The following horrible narmtion is from the Sydney Town and Country journal : —The late of at least one of the unfortunate men who have been missing from the Au e tral since Sunday week, has been unquestionably settled by the results of a post nioi fcem examination of one of the seveu sharks caught on Sunday. The sharks were fully developed, and two or three of them were giantlike specimens of their order. The shaiks were on Monday afternoon exhibited to those who cared to inspect so unusual a haul of these terrors of the sea. When public curiosity began to wane, and the impoverished showmen thought they had secured all the patronage their peculiar exhibit was likely to attract, they, with seamanlike curiosity, resolved to explore the capacious interiors of the monsters. One after amother the sharks were opened, but with no tesulrs, until operations were begun on the largest shark : their researches were then rewarded with a horrible discovery. As soon as an entry had been made into the largest shark a piece of clothm°r was discovered, and on this being brought to the light of day it was found to be the leg of .a pairof trousers. The next thine discovered was a pair of braces. The discoveries were enough to chill any one's blood with the hoiriblc anticipation of what a silent tale of repulsive horrors those things disclosed. But the tind was not complete. Continuing the search Mr Benj. Barnett came upon the foot of a man. The monster had made a clean bite just above the instep, and from that portion to the toes the foot was complete. It is in perfect state of preservation. The only thing which was in any way abnormal was a slight discolouration of theskiu. In the other shark a quantity of "undigested human skin, bones, and a penny piece were found. These discoveries at once brought up the memory of the three men who had been missed from the Austral. Communication was made with the authorities of the vessel. Mr Pentico3t third officer, was sent to make the painful examination, and after a close and careful inspection of the foot, the leg of the trousers, and the braces, he failed to recognise the indentity of either of the men in the boat, but he had not the slightest doubt the lep of the trousers belonged to a man named James Barefoot, one of the men missing from the Austral. There can be little doubt that Barefoot is not the only man who has fallen a victim to the appetite of these terrors of the harbour. The bones and the flesh found in the second shark seem to have been portions of some one's body which the shark failed to digest. JSad it not been that the abark in the interior of which the remains of poor Barefoot were found had taken such ravenous bites, the fate of this unfortunate fellow would probably have for ever remained a sealed mystery. The matter was reported to the Coroner, but he declined to hold an inquest on a foot which no one could indentify.

In the line of the puff artistic and insidious could anything be neater than this local item in the Kcrkimer .Citizen : "Born to Mr and Mrs Martin Uaggerty, a daughter ; weighs eight and a quarter pounds. Mother and child doing splendid, thanks to Dr. , who is destined to become one of our leading physicians. Tiif.be is some controversy going on as to the word " toboggan." Several authorities claim that it is from the Indian. A prominent Celt, however, insists that it is »u Irish word, and he get at its origin thus : Once upon a time a poor farmer in county Cork discovered a valuable peat bed on a few acres he happened to own. His fortune was soon made, for he let the fanning "slide and went to " hoggin.'