Show A PET FOR A CENTURY A louisiana L ifon alligator which had been knowd to one family since 1773 in the bayou flowing through the n targe I 1 arge sugar plantation of gabriel montaigne lying seven or eight miles south of thibodeau la there was recently killed according to the philadelphia times an alligator known to be something over moue one hundred and twenty years old in 1773 mr Monta ignes fathers grandfather immigrating to this country from prance france purchased e d tills this tract of land from its original spanish owner ow ner and in an attempt to ca clear ear this the bayou of the ferocious and aggressive alligators which filled it to th the quail number r of thousands succeeded in killing many of them and among th 1 ci I the ilc mother of several young ones three of which he killed also als o but the fourth got away leaving five or six indies inches of liis his tail behind him however this one was afterward seen from time to time and always abw ays recognized by this tailing portion of liis his anatomy lie ile grew to ie bo something of a pet with succeeding generations who however thought it safest to keep him at a distance despite his friendly advances but it has hai been a favorite task with the younger Monta ignes of the family to go out after each meal with tidbits tid bits for old shorty as he wib called because of bin iii deformity this agy age of one limi divil and twenty years is not unparalleled cd with these animals many being said to attain the age of two hundred though this is difficult of proving except in r uch cases where the creature is marked in some way as old shorty was |