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| Alligator Joe's Alligator Farm, Courtesy of Florida State Archives |
By Jane Feehan
Palm Beach once had its share of offbeat attractions. In the early 1900s, the west end of what became posh Worth Avenue, was home to Alligator Joe’s Farm.
Alligator Joe, or Warren Frazee, entertained winter visitors with a collection of alligators he caught and often wrestled. A story in The New York Times in 1907, claims Alligator Joe dragged one of the creatures into the ocean for a battle.
He towed a crocodile weighing 200 pounds well out into the Atlantic Ocean, had a wrestling match with it, mounted it bareback, and brought it back to shore … The reptile toward the end appeared to be completely fagged, but Frazier showed no exhaustion.
Alligator Joe was also known for his 'gator farms in Chicago, Kansas City and Denver and the manatees he caught and sent to the New York Zoological Society (it was illegal then as now).
Frazee entertained Palm Beach visitors in other ways. In 1898, he took Sir Edward and Lady Colbrooke of England on a hunt for an alligator (some thought alligators were the same as crocodiles). He successfully bagged one more than 11 feet long and was paid $25 for his services. The animal was taken to a taxidermist where it was stuffed, mounted and otherwise readied for a trip to the Colbrooke’s home in England.
Frazee, a large man of more than 300 pounds, died in 1915 reportedly of causes related to his obesity
Copyright 2011, 2020 , 2022
Sources:
Miami News, Feb. 18, 1898
New York Times, March 3, 1907
https://pbchistory.org
Tags: Florida history, Palm Beach history, Alligator Joe, early Florida attractions, Florida in the early 1900s
