Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-09
CAN THIS BE 1Rue9
"A Captains Story of adorable Monste
Seen in Lake. michigan.

80
A Captains Story of a.Horr1ble Monster
Seen in Lake'Michigrn T
Last season marine circles were all
torn up over the discovery of an alleged
sea monster a few miles off this port,
and subsequently when it was seen
again off Deaths Door by some fisher
men. The original discovery was
made by Captain Dick Brewer while
ne was towing a big mud scow pastthe
Marine Hospital. Looking ahead out
of the pilot-house of his boat he saw a
large. black object about a quarter of q
block distant, which he at first took to
be a log. There was something in the
appearance of the object, however,
which impelled him to a closer in
spection, and picking up his marine
glasses he leveled them in the direction
of the supposed log. To his astonish-
ment it began to move rapidly toward
the tug, and when within a hundred
feet it stopped, raised it's head, and
Owed beneath the surface of the water.
A lookout was kept on all sides of the
boat, but the strange monster did not
reappear. Captain Brewer described
the animal or fish or whatever it was
as being about eight feet in length,
covered with long black hair, and pos
sessed of an immense head, which was
a cross between the heads of q horse
and a COW. A great, gaping mouth,
fringed with two sets of long, threat.
ening teeth and two large eyes set close
to the center of the animals forehead,t
gave it ferocious appearance. Suisse
quently an animal of pretty neal the
same description swan alongside the
boat of two fishermen off Deaths!
Door and frightened the pair so badly
that they were taken sick and nearly;
died. Others claimed to have seen this
inland sea monster, but their state
ments were not credited, and whenever
the story was repeated the narrator
was scotfed into silence. The story
was very forcibly revived yesterday by
the experience of the crews of the tugs
Miller and Tom Brown, and, coming as
it does from two direct sources, it can
no longer be doubted that a marine
monster, rivaling ever the most
hideous Of Jules Verne's deep-sea ami
mails in point of size and ugliness, lives
and breathes in the waters of Lake
Michigan. Yesterday afternoon when
about a mile east of the crib the stew
ard of the tug Miller was engaged in
filling his water barrel. He was
startled of a sudden by a huge black
object rising to the surface of the
water right under the tugs port bow.
At first a black hairy body, about eight
or nine feet in length, was visibla and
then an immense head with distended
jaws, which snapped viciously at the
| rOr1c yua1n xuoc fbra,c+ 0,,+ ~f %I,o Xuo%o,
The cook %recoiled and called to Cap
tain Neiman and the engineer to look
at the monster. They all ran to the
bow Of the boat, and c~orroborate the
story of the cook, whose description Of
the monster tallies closely with that of
Captain Brewers. Captain Weiman
ran for the boats pipe-pole, but befora
he could use it the strange object had
disappeared. A few minutes later it
was seen leisurely rolling about in the
water, a few hundred feet from the
boat, on the starboard side. AS the
Miller had the Mediator in tow Cap
tain Weiman could not give chase tc
the fish, or animal, or whatever it is,
but he watched it until it dived be.
meath the surface of the water and dis.
appeared. An hour or so afterward
the tug SUCCESS was passing Lincoln
Park about two miles in the lake with
two vessels in two. The deckhand, Ed.
Burke, was leaning over the rail con
templating the water when he was
startled by a huge animal rising out OF
the water with a roaring sound. 1t
roared as loud as a circus lion and
darted toward the tug with a f%erocity
and force which threatened to sink it.
Captain Everatt's attention was called
to the monster by the noise it made,
and he saw it also before it disappeared
into the depths Of the lake. Marine
men regard this story with undisguised
incredulity, notwithstanding that the
crews of both tugs stoutly maintain
that it is true in every particular. The
thing to do nov is to capture the
monster and bring it ashore, so as to
give scientists a chance at it. Every
body who has seen the thing says it
bellows like a bull and can be heard
half a mile away.-CA1cago Inter- Ocean.