Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-01-29
MONSTROSITIES.
HOW THEY ARE MADE FOR MI.
SUENS BY AN INVENTOR.
1he Manufacture of Sea Serpents
2Germaids, Etc. - Ingenious De
'!ices to Make Peoples Eyes
Bulge with Wonder.

In long, dusty loft, where sloping
rafters make one double up like a jack
knife, of huge wooden rookery in New
ark, n. j., an old bison-backed German,
with long, matted, gray beard and small
red eyes, is preparing monstrosity that
is to electrify scientific men and wiring
silver dimes from the curious and be-
nighted public. The inventor is a man
of genius, and as talented as he is i'm
pecunious.
He came to this country several years
ago with panorama of the Rhine, which
proved to be failure. Since then he has
been occupied in giving birth to large
family of extinct and mythical beings,
such as sea dragons, icythyosauri, plesio-
sauri, alligator boys, Indian maidens and
mermaids. These elaborate works of art
find sale in the dime museums of this
country, and, it is said, are accountable
for wondrous birth marks incidental to
the population of the rural districts. This
has been proved by the fact that recently
a lady in Pennsylvania gave birth to
child whose back was embellished with
red outline sketch of the Bombay Hook
norman, with whom the lady had become
smitten while on a visit to Chatham
street prior to her becoming a mother.
The chart of this identical marine animal
is now employed to keep the snow out of
the workshop in the loft.
Now, there is nothing that the diseased
brain of man has ever conjured up thaS
the modern Michael Angelo cannot at
once convert into hideous shape. All he
needs is roll of stiff wire, lots of rags,
paper and glue, some dirty colored paints,
pigs ears, turkey bones, fishes teeth and
the pickings of a dozen ash barrels.
Give these things in plenty to the sculp-
tor and he appears in delirium of frolic.
With turn of his wrist, like magic the
most repulsive looking objects loom up
on all sides. AT present he is at work on
the ''frst genuine sea serpent ever cap
tured by man." 1t is over a hundred feet
long, and its girth is equal to Benjamin
Franklin's stomach on its pedestal in
Printing House square. The vertebra of
the huge sea monster stand out with great
pominence, and are composed of old por-
celain door knobs. They are about yard
apart. The scales of the beast are the
shells of the Venus mercenaria-hard
clam-overlapped. The fins are Palmace
fanul (old palm leaf FANS. The name
and whiskers are contributed by the
Broadway stageus equus (played out
Broadway stage horses. The eyes are
the bottoms of broken Lagerii beerus
bottlus dagger beer bottles), and the teeth
are the spare ribs of the Pachydermalous
sus scrofa, most commonly called the hog.
AT present the inventor is writing the his
tory of the serpent from Professor Baird's
interesting work on the subject. This
monster, it is found. was first discovered
in the Indian ocean, captured by the crew
of o wrecked whaler and brought to San
Francisco alive, where it died and was
embalmed, etc. The story of this won
der would fill ten pages of the United
States fish commissioners report and will
ne nearly as accurate.
The making of mermaids is purely an
American achievement, although the first
inventor was an Englisman now living in
this city. They were first made in this
country thirty-threc years ago to fill an
oder of noted Snowman. Hundreds
nlnce have been manufactured and have
been exhibited all over the country as
genuine. They are of all sizes and shapes.
The bodies and heads are made of paper,
rags and wire. The tails are of the cod
fish. The teeth are fishes. The arms
are turkey bones and legs. Dried eyes
of the turkey are used when available.
They are presumed to be more hideous
and fossil-like than those of glass or
caste.
The success of every mermaid depends
upon her historian. There are men who
sit up nights to think of something new
TO say about them. Some of the exhibit
tors are very happy and clever in their
descriptions. One of these said the other
day, "Tve been a side shower all me life,
and have travelled the whole country
over. The best route for mermaids is
through Ohio. The men there are wild
to see 'em. I've known half dozen en-
gagements of marriage broken because
the lovers would go in the tent; and
there was a divorce suit started down in
Knox county because some old farmer
fell in love with the pictures of a mermaid
at a side show at a circus. Kinda queer
things is mermaids."
1t takes man with stout heart to
contemplate calmly the terrible sea
dragons which hover from the wires at
the roof of the loft They are prolific of
startling yarns and lengthy pedigrees.
they, too, are made of wire, rags, paper
and paint. The prongs which stud their
back bones are rooster spurs, their flip
pers are hogs ears, their legs of sticks
and rags. The alligator boys are supposed
to be the offspring of colored ladies who
have been chased or frightened by alliga-
tors. They too, are made of rags, paper
and wire, with curly sheepskin put on
odd places with glue.
The Indian maidens are terrors from
Terre Haute, also of rags, varnish and
paper. They are always discovered by
Colonel Egilston, who while prospecting
for coal in the West, came across these
natural mummies in dark caves. The dry
air of the West is cited as being the pre-
serving power. Some years ago gorillas
had quite a run. They were all manu-
factured. --NeU York Herald.
Strictly Rucinncc