Morris Cater shark attack

The Morris Cater shark attack was the second fatal shark attack on the same day as the killing of Alexander Kintner, occurring within an hour of the first and witnessed by at least fifteen people on the public beach in Amity. This event shatters the town's attempt to suppress news of the earlier Christine Watkins attack and forces Police Chief Martin Brody to close the beaches, triggering a media frenzy and a crisis of conscience for Brody, who blames himself for not acting sooner.

The Attack and Its Witnesses

Morris Cater, a 65-year-old jewelry wholesaler from New York City with offices at 1224 Avenue of the Americas, was spending the weekend at the Abelard Arms Inn. At approximately 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 20, he was swimming just beyond the surf line off the public beach when he was suddenly struck from behind. He called out for help, but all attempts to rescue him were in vain. At least fifteen persons witnessed the attack. Patrolman Len Hendricks, who was on the beach at the time and was taking his first swim in five years, went in up to his waist and tried to get to the struggling victim, but the fish kept hitting him again and again. The fish was described as being "as large as a station wagon." When Hendricks finally waded out to where Cater was floating, he took hold of one of his arms and pulled, and it came off in his hand; the fish had chewed right through it, all but a little bit of skin. Cater was pronounced dead on arrival at Southampton Hospital.

The Immediate Aftermath and Brody's Response

Hendricks, still wearing only a bathing suit, charged into the Amity police station to report the attack, his body mottled gray-white and his breath coming in short bursts. The New York Times reporter Bill Whitman, who had been on the beach for the Kintner attack, was present and immediately connected the two incidents. Brody, who had been trying to downplay the earlier attack on Alexander Kintner as a possible drowning, was forced to confront the reality of a marauding shark. He ordered Hendricks to find notices and close the beaches, saying, "One way or another, let's get the goddam beaches closed." The next morning, the New York Times ran the story on page one with the headline "SHARK KILLS TWO ON LONG ISLAND," reporting that a witness saw a large silver-colored object seize the boy and that at least fifteen persons witnessed the attack on Cater. The Amity Leader also ran the story, with a banner headline: "TWO KILLED BY MONSTER SHARK OFF AMITY BEACH" and a subhead noting the number of victims had risen to three, including Christine Watkins.

Consequences and Brody's Guilt

The attack on Morris Cater, coming so soon after the death of Alexander Kintner, made it impossible for the town to continue its policy of suppressing information about the shark. Brody was consumed by guilt, feeling that the two deaths on Sunday could have been prevented if he had closed the beaches after the first attack. He was confronted by Mrs. Kintner, who slapped him with a newspaper and screamed, "You killed Alex!" Brody's internal torment was compounded by the economic devastation the attacks were causing Amity. The town, which relied on summer tourism to survive the winter, saw a wave of cancellations. Larry Vaughan, the mayor and a real estate broker, reported two cancellations of big leases that very morning, and the town's economy began to collapse. The attack on Morris Cater thus served as the catalyst that transformed a local tragedy into a full-blown crisis, forcing Brody to confront his own failures and the town's desperate need to destroy the shark.