The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-06-26

atJerWard. - lie IS now dead, and, as
was observed, never prospered after
this, but was haunted by an evil spirit
in the appearance of>an old man, who,
it is thought, used to say unto him,
.Will ye do such thing? Who killed
the woman?' The other man then in
the boat is still alive in the isle of Bur
ra. D." The man was certainly more like
brute than fisherman, or he would
not have drawn his knife for such pur-
pose whether human or non-human,
she wonld have been worth more to him
alive than dead, even as an exhibition
to villagers at baubee q head.
In 1877, according to a Scottish maga-
zine, the crew of a ship newly arrived
in the Thames from the East Indies,
reported that in the island of NIauri-
titus they had partaken of mermaid,
the flesh of which was good deal like
veal. The mermaid weighed three or
four hund-ed-weight, rather a buxom
specimen The head was particularly
large, and so were the features, which
differed but little from those of a man
or woman. The story tells of two of
them, one with beard four or five
inches long, the other much more femi-
nine. When they are first taken"
the narrator proceeds to say, (which is
often on the ground, they cry and grieve
with great sensibility" About the
same time story came from Vigo, in
Spain, to the effect that some fisherman
on that coast had caught sort of mer-
man, five feet and half from head to
foot. The head was like that of a goat,
with long beard and mustaehe, a black
skin, somewhat hairy, very long neck,
short arms, hands longer and larger than
they ought to be in proportion, and
long fingers, with nails like claws !;
webed toes, and fin at the lower part
of the back.
The magazines for 1775 give an ac-
connt of a mermaid which was captured
in the Levant and brought to London.
One of the learned periodicals gravely
told its readers that the mermaid had
the complexion and featurees OF a Eu-
ropean, like those Of a young woman
that the eyes We're light blue, the nose
small and elegantly formed, the mouth
small, the lips thin, "but edges of them
round like those of Goldfish p that the
teeth were small, regular, and white /;
that the neck was we'll rounded and
that the ears were like those of the eel,
"but the placed like those of a human
species, with gills for respiration, which
appear like curls." There was no hair
on the head, but "rolls, which, at n
distance, might be mistaken for curls. -
There was fin rising pyramidally from
the temples, forming fore-top, like
that of a lady's aeud dress. The
bust was nearly like that of a young
damsel, porpsr orthodox mermaiden,
but, alas all below the waist was exact
| ly like fish Three sets of fms below
| the waist, one above the other, enabled
her to swim. Finally, cit is said to
! have an enchanting voice, which it
never exerts excepts before a storm -
The writer in the Annual Register pro-
baby did not see this mermaid, which
! the Gcltlcnldn's magazine described as
being only three feet high. It was af-
terward proved to be a cheat, made
from the skull of the angle-shark.
A Welsh farmer named Reynolds,
living at Pen-y-holdin 1882, saw a some
thing which he appears to have believed
to be mermaid he told the story to
DIR. George Phillips, who told it to
Mrs Moore, who told it to a young
lady pupil of hers, who wrote out an
account of it for Mrs. Morgan, who in
! serted it in her "Tour to Milford
Haven" How much the story gained
on its travels, like the Three Black
Crows, or the parlor game of Russian
Scandal, we are left to find out for our.
| selves; but its ultimate form was nearly
as follows: One morRing, just outside
the cliff, Reynolds saw what seemed tC
him TO be a person bathing in the sea
with the upper part of the body out OI
the water. On n nearer view, il looked
like the upper part of n person in a tub
a youth, say, sixteen or eighteen years
of age, with nice white skin; a sort o
hrownish body and tail were under
the water. The head and body weT,
human in form, but the arms and hands
thick in proportion to length, while TIN
nose, running mp high between tn,
eyes, terminated rather sharply. Th,
mysterious being looked attentively a
Reynolds, and at the cliffs, and ut tn,
birds flying in the air, with a wild gaze
but uttered no cry. Reynolds went {,
bring some companions to see the mer
man or mermaid but when he return
ed it had disappeared. If we like {,
suppose that Reynolds had seen SOM
kind of seal, and that the narration ha,
grown to something else by repetition
from mouth TO mouth. perhaps we shal
not be very far wrong.
The present century, like its predeces
sors, has had its crop of mermai,
stories, reappearing from time to time
In 1909, one Of these strange being
made its appearance off the coast O
Caithness, in Scotland The particular
we have not at hand; but it happens t
be on record by what channels the par
rative reached the public. Two servan
girls and boy saw something in tht
water which they decided must be
mermaid; they mentioned it to Mis-
Mackey, who wrote of it to Mrs. Jones
who showed the letter to Sir john Sin
clair, who showed it 10 a gentleman
who caused the statement to be insertet
in a newspaper. The Philosophical so
ciety brought these facts to light
Even so grave publication as 90 Reesl
Cyclopedia, in 1919, said 1--WE hav
well-attested account of a mermal
near the great rock called Diamond, o.