The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-08-25
"A Mermaid at Camden. +.

l. r. E1f#E 61tRf
Great interest in manifested at Camden, N. .
j., ny the recent capture Of baby mermaid
on the southern shore People flock in from
all sides, OF thetountry round too inspect the >
curiosity. Il; d; n. e.. ..f ,...,-..,s-g-
The object in question, described BY many
as mermaid from its Resemblance to the hu-
manifamily ,hung by alstringson the wall, and !
was being inspected BY q crowd ofthe eurious.a
1t was about two, feet and q half in length and,
SO many points ofresemblance to newborn
child didit have that'many persons manifested
little reluctance in pronouncing iti Is genuineI
baby mermaid. Its body with the exception,
of the feet and tail and the location of the
arms, was IN appearance the same as that Of a.
child. and might be described as asrevisedi ver-s
sion of a skinned monkey. The heed ran ttos
peak az the top, and was ass set On a short neck
sunken, and were covered, lin lieu Of eyelids,
with ristly scales. nThe nose was quite prem-l
inent and ended infthe mouth, the lips,Of which
were a hard, gristly flesh, and fringed with
eight teeth on the inside-f upper ana fotir
lower. The tongue bore an almost sperfects
resemblance to the human tongue, and rbackiof)
it could be seen two small tonsils, The breast,
and abdomen were remarkably similar to those
of a man. the ribs being We'll formed, but
about forty in, numbdrgs The arms extended to-
the hips and terminated in five fingers, with,
claW-like nails, the Joints being at the point
of connection with the body. TIE legs were
long, terminating in fms and bore resem-l
blance to those OF a baby. At the end of the
backbone a well-defned tail, tiYe inches in,
length, protruded, ending vertically in two
small fins. Strange to say, there was not the
sign Of scale, soft, feshy skin covering the
entire body, which was destitute of hair. The.
weight of the creature was about six pounds ~
81 was,ishing for founders, or weak fish,
about seven miles off Brigantine Beach, in
company with a yachting party" said James
Garrison, ir., Of Camden, to reporter on
Tuesday. land when got tired of the
sport l changed the bait and threw the line
in another direction. Pretty soon |, felt a
strong jerk, and ], thought had a good-size
fish. pulled the line in rapidly, thinking r
had on e founder, but you could have f1ooredI
me with feather when hauled that thing on
deck. The captain yelled out, ."shiver my,
Garrison, but you've caught
mermaid" sat down and looked at the thing
Hopping around, and almost expected it to-
walk up and speak to me. took the hook
but it hyed only few hours. Why, felt as
though Twas killing human being when L
pulled the barb out of its flesh 1t, looked so
much like a dying child that the captain, who,
is trifle superstitlous, wanted to talk to it,,
and felt SO sorry that he almost blubbered like
a girl L brought it up to Camden , intending
to preserve it in alcohol, but Booker wanted
it, and guess he'll preserve it." %,..s,
DR.. o. B. Gross, of Camden, says that the
animal is the young male of the sharp
ray. This species, he Declares is very COM,
mon on these coasts, though the young are
rarely seen. The pectoral fins, which are large
and feshy, are tied on the back in such q Pc
culiar way as to give color to the mermaid le-
pend