West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-01-23
AN AWFUL TALE.
A HUGE RIVER REPTD.EOR AN
IMAL CAPTURED IN THE
SKUNK RIVER NEAR
OSKALOOSA,
IOWA.
Speci1I 10 Nc N7cton Her1I1j.

I
Iowa, amounting almost TO frenzy. now
prevails on Skunk river, nesr Oskalosss
The excitement began Tuesday, and
though somewhat sbstcd, sill exists. and
there are now several hundred persons
there and many others burrying TO the
scene. Early Tuesday morning Mr. Jas.
Wright, living few miles from Oskaloo
ca, rode into town and Informed the city
authorities of what he had seen at his
farm. his statements, wnich were subse
quently in the main verified were as fol-
lows:
His tErm is situated four or five miles
from the city on the south baLk of the
river. His feed lot, in which ten days ago
there were about one hundred large hogs is
situated about eight rods at the nearest
point 20 the rivar Outing the last wenty
days ten Of his largest hogs Weighing from
$50 TO 4O0spounds, have very myst r'uusly
disappeared. The fence was new aud
made of native lumber, With posts every
six feet; also, trusty bull dog slept four
rods from the LOT, and as there was no ev-
idcnce that the fence had beeu touched or
the dog rou,ed the MYSTERY. surrounding
the missing hogs was becoming darker
eSch day. List night be, armed with
Henry rife and his dog 10y his side, from
a partially concealed spot watched the
pen OF 1t. Nothing whatever was seen
duri' tbe night ami no,hmg heard except
violent splssLiug tn the river Just as the
sun rose, and as he wss IN the set of
st .rting bone, there came from the river
up over The back and slowly moving to
w.Td the bog lot. - gigantic a,in,sl or rep
uiv, lNgr enough sud ni.ieous enough to
rppai tue sirougest man. Aud had not
su1s'q u ul uica. urmeu verified his est:-
m tr # ~ lrGE,n, etc, those bsviu..
neaId hi, exc tel statement would have
still b, lieved that his ,x4egerauons result
ed from fear Il afproached the pen in
Which ;he hogs were kept more slowly
ID II emerged from the river, and craned
is head veral feet above the fence until
about fifteen or t~euty feet OK ito head
and body WAS beyond the fence when.
With quick deseut Of the head, a hog
weighing n. least 300 pounds was grasped
10 the mouth Of tne monster. The entire
hog disappeared IN the mouth, EXCEPT the
mead, which pc jectei Out of the side OF
the animals muut sb,ut fifteen inches
from he tip T Tue nose. IL then turned
~ uud with ut seemipg to move its niud
Is ar tail catryI' & its head At least twelve
or fifteen fee. high IFS fore !, q not touch
iDg the ground during The time it was
ge'iif back Yer The fence. II then ran
down he river bank fifteen or twenty rods
add plunged into the water. He estimated
its entire Icing h n be- 7s feet; the distance
from the for,legs 10 The END Of ;he nose at
Is fee'i the di7,tuce bet ween the fore and
hind legs az 40 feei; md tai al 20 feet; lie
legs were feet long and ss thick as p
mans body, It's b dy Was from 4 to 3
ieet IN dis meter, making the animal when
walking sb ut 10 feet high.
Alth. ugh no one believed his statements
accurate al believed that some wonderful
animal had been seen anu that it had cur
ried large bog into the river The re-
port spread rapidly snd in one hour forty
or fifty men on horseback and several hun.
dred on foot were hurryirg 20 the Wright
farm. The animal was firs. seen mile
below the farm. Several shots were fred
into him which produced No other effect
than to cause him to approach the bank
slowly aud uncXcitedly, but when within
ten or fifteen feet Of the bank suddenly he
made lunge and grasped by The head and
neck horse rode by VIM. Smith, aud was
jerked with such force ls 10 carry him in
to the river, and g. dg~p did bis teeth 20
that the fl,sh was nangtd and the neck
bone exposed IN many place back 20 the
body, Mr.. Smith was only saved from
being carried in with the horse by being
caught by the arm md held by John Akin
who was riding near him. The animal
then plunged into the middle Of the river
and it was apparent from the c0mmotion
in the water (and his body was seen every
few rOds) that he was going down stream
rapidly. Every man with gun or revolver
at every opportunity fred at him. The
numbers increased 90 that at 10 o'cl,ck
there were two thousand following his
movements. The firing along The bank
became 20 fr' quent AMI reckless, or per
haps thouRhtltss that IL seemed like bat.
tie field. Neither the roar Of musketry
nor the impact Of bullets against his body
seemed 10 disturb him.
BY this time II became apparent that
revolvers and rife balls would not pene-
trate his body, a. II was roughly estimated
that 40 to three p. m. ten thousand shots
had been cred. without even having infur-
lated him At this time AL Swain ~
Oskslooas, directed two men to make the
best possible time to town and bring a u
pound cannon, keg Of railroad spikes