The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1881-12-22
TIE Cham Lake "sea Serpent"

TIE Cham Lake 'Sea Serpent
AUTHORITATIVE ACCOUNT OF The MONSTER
DWtL-S On LAND AS WELL AS WATER
"When the Lord came on this earth
the Jews would rot believe him. and
there are men in this town that are no
better than the Jews" This remark was
made by MI L. Hall, when he called at
this office, a day or two ago, to correct
some newspaper mis- statements that are
current: and to give US the correct yer
sion of his recent encounter with the
great snake in MachiaS Chain Lake. II
have been Numbering on these waters for
forty years" said Mr.. Hall, land have
never come down from the woods to re-
port strange sights AID incredible yarns.
When, therefore, | give the simple facts
with regard to this snake, that | and
companion saw, want men who have
hitherto accepted my statements, to lis
ten TO me fairly, and not cry 'bOsh. The
newspapers, too he added, "by report
ing what never said, and eXaggerating
the facts, have made MY story ridiculous
in 5, veral points" Every detail. relating
to the serpent and his movements. was
then presented by Mr.. Hall. and we
abridge and condcnse his lengthy report
as follows
On Friday, Nov. 18th, Mr.. Hall and Mr.
William Libby of St stephen, were lay
ing out logging chance on land Of vii
liam Duren, and. in hunting for a certain
bunch Of spruce, Unexpectedly came out
On Chain Lake. 1t was beautiful day,
with only a slight breeze ripping the
water. and they stopped on the shore to
take their lunch. Mr. Libby soon noticed
a peculiar noise which seemed at first to
issue ont Of the woods, and next came
from The direction OF cove above Mr..
Hall could not for time hear the no Sc
70 which his attention was called, but
when he did finally distinguish the sound,
he remarked that a crew Of men must be
repairing the dam above. just then there
appeared in sight around the point mile
away, an object which they took for men
III 4 skitt but soon discOv cred to be an
enormous snake. With its head elevated
slN feet above the water, it came swiftly
down the lake, facing the sun, until it
reached a position just opposite the men,
ana distant less than half mile. 1t then
stopped short, throwing the middle part
Of lis body out Of the water in an arch,
also six feet high. Its head, which it had
before kept turning IN the direction of
one shore and then the other, was point
ed for d minute in the direction Of Mr.
HALL and his companion. who stood mo-
tioness. After this inspection it sudden
y Strengthened out again, and passed by
ana QoNn into the Outlet. Its speed was
about mile in five minutes OF twelve
miles an hour. and its appearance while
IN motion IS thus minuteiy described
From its head to the water was six feet;
The next twenty feet or more Of its
form was under water then some twelve
feet q its back appeared above the sur
face to a height of above Is inches the
remainder OF lis greater length was hid
den from view. and, as the propelling
power was unnecessarily attached to the last
named part, its entire body could not
have been under fifty feet, and more like
is was over SO feet" The head at the
nroadest part could not have measured
less than two and one half feet across,
and the upright portion Of its body,
though, OF course, by no means the larg
est, was ''ds Dig as pork barrel" When
last seen in the outlet it had left the wa
ter, and was passing over distant point
Of land covered with granite boulders,
among which were tough bushes. The
erect part then Cooked like a man that
would weigh three or four hundred"
MI. Halls theory is that the serpent
travels and lives on land as well as water,
and that its chief food consists Of deer.
On the day named, lit was hungry, and.
having smelled us, came out of the
woods after a meal" Coming down the
lake, at passed by the scent" borne Oh
the wind and, ''when it finally got where
the sun would permit to see US. we stood
So still it took us for Stubs on the shore,
and proceeded on" Mr. Hall SAYS the
Times" was incorrect in stating that he
saw large scales on the snakes back
He saw nothing Of the kind, and, if it
had scales, they could not have been dis
tinguished half a mile off, nor did he
say, as one paper deliberately reports,
that it had eyes Gas big as saucers."
He could tell nothing about its eyes
Then again, the monster was not
enlightened by shoal water or some
other cause as it never approached
directly toward him. Finally he and bis
companion were not terror stricken"
They stood still, knowing that neither
shOal water nor flight to the woods would
save them, if the serpent kept the scent
and was bent on mischief II had
plenty of time, says Mr.. Hall, 'if worst
came to worst, to cut and sharpen a
sapling a dozen feet long, and, at close
quarters, | should have plunged the
pole down its throat, and have let Mr..
Libby kill it with the axe. knew
better than to have attacked him with
the axe first"
Mr.. Hall says that any man on the st.
CroiX who will dispute the existence of
the above described "boa-c onstrictor,"
in the face Of what his eyes and those of
Mr.. Libby have just witnessed, is not
clear headed, and must be classed with
the Jews. This is not the first time the
snake has been seen. Old Captain Levy
saw it many years ago, and others Of the
Passamaquoddy Indians have seen it in
Big Lake at various times. Every
member Of the tribe knows of it and
believes in it. Mr.. John Williams, and
a crew OF men, saw it at the mouth of
Little River % years ago, and his de-
ScrlptlOn attracted much attention at
that time. Mr.. Williams mistoOk a
| part OF the snakes body for an immense
| log lying across the boom, and upon
advancing to see how the log got there,
the brute moved away, and in going
across the land made broad, deep
turrow in the grass and soil of the
meadow. Mr.. Hall now regrets that he
ever said anything about the snake rs
there are so many ''foos" among men
who disbelieve and deride He thinks
some plan to capture the snake, by
tying a live horse on the shore of the
lake as a bait, may prove successful /;
and all will then see that his description
was carefully kept within the actual
| truth [CalaiS Times.