Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-05-31
MIsCELLAHY,
A MONSTER OF TIu DEEP


slight That Fascinated . Passenger u
mt sumrise sm ahe Sea-GAlldsen
Terror ksrsCken aoA StAea {
EAtAtimg-- w - is . Sod Ssr- Ii
pest or = hat sn shU WtrsA II
Was ~? ,
From the Bombai Gazette.
STEAMSHIP HYDAsrEs, March 22.-ll
As a missionary, have trateled over
great part Of the world but I can
afely aver that what savior Satur-
lay. the 18th day of Marc4, was in
the most MARVELLOUS phe-
,omenon that has ever metthe eye.
We steamed out of Bombay harbor
on the evening Of Monday. the 18th
Of March, in the steamshipHyd aspes,
CAPTAIN Reynolds. On Tuesday, at
u O'Clock, we had made 16a miles on
at mid-daya 40; on
7O7, and on Friday nearly |
600. SO that on Saturday morning |
we were about l,5OO miles from Bonn |
bay. Nothing Of remark had occur
red up TO Saturday. The weather
was cool and nearly every one slept
below, only one passenger, Captain
Davidson, and myself remaining on
deck for the night. l was reused
from sleep Mt six by the men washing
and scrubbing the decks. i took my
plate of broken biscuits to the stern
and sat there munching them and
looking ut the sun rising. was quite
alone, Captain Davidson still sleeping
in peace on the port side. There was
a thick bank of clouds Oh the horizon,
and as the sun rose from the sea be-
hind the great bank, great masses of
color, red and blue and yellow, lit up
the whole expanse Of sky and sea. l
was looking at a strange, ruddy, blot
of red on the water right astern,
when saw apparently near the hor-
lion. but in the red blot, a dark NOV
ing shadow. II did not seem TO move
with the other shadows on the sea,
and this fixed my attention on it.
Soon ! saw that it was steadily APP
preaching the vessel. could distin-
guish no form, only a dark shadow,
but l made out certainly that it was
advancing towards us and at q great
rate.
Fifteen minutes must have passed
when ] at last became able to distin-
guish the form of the advancing OBJ
ject. q spoke TO the Captain after
ward as to the distance the object
could have been from us when ! first
distinguished it, and he told me that
l must have been deceived by the
moving light in supposing it near the
horizon, and he guessed from what
said, that it was then ouly three Oh
four miles distance. Mistakes of a
like nature, he said are commonly
made by tho inexperienced,) I can
not describe my feelings OH behold.
ing that hideous sight. At first ]
turned to call out to bring others to
look ON with me, but before cry
could pass my lips, second feeling oil
selfish pleasure that l alone saw that
fearful thing seized me. aud I turned
my eyes again to the sea, and KEPT
them fixed there. Within q hundred
feet of the stern OF our vessel, not now
approaching US. hui. slmply following
steadily in our wake, was this hideous
thing,
THE MONSTERS HEAD.
A great mass of what looked likt
tangled scaweed, on which turtle
attempt at combing had been made
rose aai Of foa ,ke water Tis Rss
in length aud ten feet In width, ani
as it came on 1t caused wide vippl,
in the water, that showed there MAs
be still greater part below the sur
face. From the center Of this mass
raised inst clear abaNe II and facine
il, was . great black head. The tol
was quite fiat, in shape not unlike tha'
Of Q InanstYoHs toad; 4 thipf firing!
Of coarse, reddish hair hung over III,
mouth, quite concealiAg II. But thu
eyes were the mast awful part Of thi
fearful thing, They were placea fal
apart, at either extremity of tho IA
head, distant from each other alb ou
three feet. .......... 81
| mnst here state that all the pas
sengels and ali the crew, except ii,
Captain himself, saw the thing af
terWard, but there We're scarcely two
who could agree as to the color anG
nature OF these eyes. I can oal,
sWyssttssrl Is Msse snn1sm aa
!, they must have been four or five inch
es in diameter. They scintillated con
! stantly. Every one knows the extra
ordinary appearance If Q snYfact
covered with small alternate square,
of bright red aud bright hlut, thu
quivefing, uncertain, UnhXed loOl
such surface has, tile difficulty. thu
impossibility experienced by thu
looker-on to fix the color of any par
ticHIa1 square, The eyeballs OF thi'
iook. but but the icy wefs not resd, iioi blue
net red and blne; they We're of /
bright, hupningly bright, copper
hue; they panied our overland
in this We were all agreed--as WI
looked at them. In the center Of eacl
eyeball, mere speck, but visible from
its extreme brightness, was point O
light-of white light 1t was imposs
lille to tell whether these points Wer.
or were not material points af the ey.
or merely caused by reflection, bu
they were clearly defined, aud seemed
to remain in the same place. I'll,
motion, however, of the thing was 81
steady that no deduction could b,
fairly drawn from their not changing
their position.
TERRIFIED SPECTATORS.
l had been so absorbed in the pleas
ing pain of looking at the thing that
had quite forgotten the olhsF pf2pl'
on beard, and was first aroused b!
hearing Captain DAVIDSON step up Of
the starn By We, give one look below
and then hnfriedly go hack. In few
moments every passenger was crowd
ing on the stern, oven the ladies ap
pearing in unfinished costume, Elk
carnations of the EXTREMIST surpris
and establishment broke from all, ant
then silence fell, as the crowd staret
at the hideoHs creature. The chill
dren, At the hrst sight, ran back below
screaming, and some refused to com
again on deck, though their nurse
aud ayahs-aesirous of looking Of
themaelyes-rusea all possible mean
to make them. some, however, re
lurned, curiosity overcoming feal
but even these looked on in perpetua
tremor of terror, and held themselye
. ready at the first movements of tn
thing to rush away. l noticed a
F this time that the captain was nj
present, aud turned to an old Europ
, can sailor by me, and asked him tog
{ aud tell him.
captain won't come; no fear o
that" replied he.
I asked if he was navigating tn
! ship.
. mo, he is not navigating the ship,
+, said the sailor, "but he would no
!. come for all that however, he woul,
go and tell him."
Put lhengh 10 vent, the paptai
i would not come.
+ We ali remained absorbed in tn
strange sight till tho first breakfas
bell rang at half-past eight, when W
had. perforoe, to hurry away and tax
our chance of bathing at that lat
hour. Up to this time the thing ha,
! kept steadily in our wake. its move
, ments continuing absolutely smoot
and constant, and the two specks O
q light in the glaring eyes never chang
. ing n hairs breadth from their Dosi