Claim: Alligators given as gifts escape.
Origins: Here are two fine alligator stories from the 1930s, one following the other a day later:
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Two baby alligators from the Florida Everglades rode an airmail plane northward today toward the homes of Port Jervis, N.Y. — James A. Farley's supposedly air-minded baby alligator couldn't be located tonight. The sharp-toothed infant, and another consigned to Post office officials who superintended the forwarding of six sacks of registered mail and three sacks of ordinary letters on the plane said they found no trace of the alligators. They were reported shipped from West Palm Beach, Fla., by Mayor Ted Brown to
Clearly they got away by swallowing their tails, thus disguising themselves as luggage.
Barbara "carrion bags, at that" Mikkelson
Last updated: 11 August 2011
 | Sources: |
The New York Times. "Alligator Sent to La Guardia." 20 December 1936. The New York Times. "Baby Alligators Missing." 21 December 1936.
