Elyria Alligator Tales – Part 2

Mutt the Alligator was so popular and well-known that his seasonal comings and goings in the fountain on Elyria’s square were covered by the Chronicle-Telegram.

As Rick Kurish noted, "He would typically be placed in the fountain each May, and in October he would be removed to spend the winter hibernating in a makeshift basin in the basement of the courthouse or in one of the fire stations.”

Here's the Chronicle-Telegram’s coverage of Mutt getting ready for winter in the fall of 1912. The article ran in the paper on October 18th.

Skipping ahead a few years, here’s an article noting that although spring had sprung, Mutt was still sleeping in his winter quarters in the basement of the courthouse. It ran in the C-T on March 27, 1915.

A few months later, Mutt made the paper again – when two newsboys invaded his turf by wading into the fountain. This article ran on July 26, 1915.

This item from the September 9, 1916 Chronicle-Telegram tells the story of an unfortunate park pigeon who strayed a little too close to Mutt. Unlike the newsboys, he didn’t survive to tell his tale.

The August 7, 1917 edition of the Chronicle-Telegram had a similar story. This time, it was a turtle that became lunch. The article also reveals that Mutt had a roommate at that point.

Nobody was eaten in this story from the May 24, 1919 Chronicle-Telegram. It was just the usual seasonal story letting the public know that the two alligators would soon be moved to their fountain home.

Mutt was mentioned in a small article that made the newswire and ran in the Tuesday, August 15, 1922 edition of the Coshocton, Ohio Tribune. A young girl had fallen into the fountain; fortunately, she made out better than the pigeon or the turtle.

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After a long career as a beloved Elyria icon, Mutt came to a bad end rather quickly. First, he managed to escape from his winter quarters in the cellar of the fire station, as related in this article from the front page of the Chronicle-Telegram on December 14, 1927.

A few days later the longtime park pet was found dead. A fine tribute to him appeared on December 19, 1927 in the Santa Ana, California Register, of which J. F. Burke (formerly of Elyria) was the editor.

Apparently, that was not the end of alligators in the Elyria park fountain. 

As Rick Kurish noted, "After Mutt passed away, he was replaced by a smaller alligator who was named “Snoozer,” probably for obvious reasons. I found mentions of Snoozer into the 1930s, but he never seemed to hold the public fascination like Mutt did. I believe that the era of “park alligators” ended in the late 1930s or around World War II. " 

Thanks, as always, to Rick and Dennis for sharing their research.