The Shasta courier., 1868-04-25
SHASTA COURIER.
An Extraordinary Creature Discovered in
Mississippi.

About twenty five miles from this city is
small stream known as Bear Greek, which
empties into the Big Black river. For some
time past strange stories have been told by
the negroes of an extraordinary animal, seen
near this creek. These stories were laughed
at and derided by the citizens, no one be-
llevlng In any such statements This ex-
traordinary creature mad often suddenly pre-
sented himself among the negroes in the
early twilight, causing great CONSERVATION
among them. lie is described by the negroes
as being about eight feet high, each eye in
their language, . as large as a hens egg
with no nose and no upper lip, his two eye
teeth as large as mans thumb, extending
down over his chin about eight inches his
right foot points directly to the front and the
left to the rear, and the measurement of the
track is just twenty-three inches in length:
his finger nails are about six inches long;
the hair on his head-which is stiff and wiry
sweeps the ground as he walks. and is
parted in the rear and brought down in
front on each side of his singularly formed
chest, which is not round or fiat, but is an
gular like that of a fowl. The hair on the
body of this singular being is very stiff, and
grows to the rear, parting at the angle of the
breast-bone. growing back. and uniting with
a long, stiff growth on his spine. which ex-
tends back about one foot like the spina! fin
of fish, or the bristles on tie back of a
boar-the hair on his arms is parted. and
grows in the same way, making "A long. thick
brush on the back of the arms, extending
from the shoulders to the point of his middle
finger. The same reculiarity is observable
on his legs. No white person has ever seen
him until recently, when he was discovered
by hunting Iarry. Several gentlemen
acquaintances of ours-met on last Thursday
week with view of bear hunting in this
swamp. They were accompanied by about
fifteen well trained bear dogs They pre-
pared for the hunt early in the morning, and
when about commencing, their attention
was attracted to an unusually large human
track in the soft soil upon examination it
was discovered that the track was constantly
being reversed. In an instant the story of
the negroes occurred to the party, and at
once it was determined to pursue the creature
which had made this track. The dogs were
instantly called and encouraged to follow the
track, which they did promptly. The gen
tlemen mounted upon go d horses found but
little difficulty In keeping well up with the
hounds. In a few minutes an object was
presented to their view that sent a chill to
the heart of every member of the party
They had unearthed the nondescript
being-apparertly human-suddenly arose
from his lair, turned and for moment stood
in silent inspection of his pursuers, and then
instantly with a yell truly terrific, wheeled
and with the speed of the fastest horse,
rushed away before the dogs. The wild and
exciting chase was continued for distance
of nearly ten miles, when at last the terrible
III hron to
bay upon the bank of the Big Black, and
turning with fury unparalleled, it seized the
foremost dog with both hands, and by the
exercise of superhuman muscular strength,
buried its long talons in the body of the
bowling brute and literally tore the dog
asunder. Dropping this. it instantly seized
the next and sent its two immense tusks
through the skull of the doomed dog. One
of the hunters becoming alarmed for the
safety of the party. drew his revolver and
fred twice at the monster, but evidently
without effect other than to frighten it by the
report. when, turning, with hideous yell,
1t plunged into the river, diving and remain
ing under water fully five minutes, when it
would suddenly spring high into the air.
screaming with the voice of regiment of
soldiers. 1t finally swan to the opposite
side and disappeared in the neighboring
forest, since which timei it has only been seen
twice by white persons. Several attempts
have been made to capture it, but up to the
present time without success. What this
strange thing is, no one can Conjecture
The gentleman with whom we have con-
versed represents it as a black man about six
feet high, but in other respects resembling.
to great degree, the description given by
the negroes. 1t has broken the negroes from
attending Loyal Leagues at night in that
section of country Ticksburq Herald.