As fate would have it, the attention he so craved came to Bert Hobson in April of '35. While fishing off the coast of Coogee Beach, Hobson's son caught a 14-foot tiger shark (via Mental Floss). Weighing in at over 1 ton, Hobson quickly transported the shark to the aquarium and created an attraction around the beast. Everything was going fine until a week into the tiger shark's residency when it suddenly started convulsing — and vomiting. Out from the shark, in turn, came a rat, a bird, and then to everyone's horror, out came an intact human arm (via News.Com.Au).
Hobson called authorities to the scene. It was clear the arm, which had a tattoo of 2 boxers fighting on the inside of the forearm, hadn't been bitten off by the shark. It had somehow been separated from its owner. Australian authorities quickly traced the tattooed arm to former boxer, Jimmy Smith (via News.Com.Au). A 45-year-old manager of the billiard club City Tattersall's Club, Smith also did side work building boats for Reginald Holmes, who, according to Mental Floss, doubled as a local crime lord.
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