Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-09-30
BIG SNAKE OR BIG LIE.


A Massachusetts, Man Sees n Sea Ser
pent Three Hundred Feet Long,
Four Rows of Teeth, big Tusks,
SIX Eyes, and a bad Smell
He Goes Ashore, Enters
Hole and Pulls the
Hole In After Him.
.BOsPoN, Mass, Sept. 19.-Mr. Geo
w. Ready of Provincetown, place OF
the shore of Cape Cod, relates sea ser
pent story that puts all previous at
tempts in that line in the shade. HC
says he was looking off the shore wheI
he saw what looked like a whirlpool
and from his standpoint appeared to bt
about twenty feet in diameter, from the
center of which jets of spray looking
like steam were elected to the hight o
fifty feet.
Intently watching this strange phen.
omenon, he presently saw huge head
appear above the surface and point fol
the shore. The head was as large as 8
200 O-gallon cask, concave on the under
meath side, and convex on the upper
Mr.. Ready saw the creature coming to-
ward the shore, and secreted himselfir
clump of beach-plum bushes, where
he got good view of the monster.
The creature swan to the shore with
a slow, undulating motion, and passed
to within about thirty feet of where he
was secreted. 1t was about 800 feel
long, and in the thickest part, which
was about in the middle, he judged, as
it passed him, was II feet in diameter
His body was covered with scales as
large as the head of fish barrel, which
were alternately green, blue and red
They did not overlap. each other, but
seemed as if they were Joined together
by a ligament some four inches broad.
The most curious feature was the
head. The open mouth disclosed four
rows of teeth, which glistened like pol
ished ivory, and were at least two feet
long, while on the extreme end of the
head or nose projected single tusk over
eight feet in length. The creature had
six eyes as large as good-sized dinner
plates, and they were placed at the end
of movable projections, so that
they were at least three feet from
the head. In the creatures mov-
ing along these projections were con-
tinually on the move, so that he could
see before, behind and sideways at the
same time. Three of the eyes were ofa
fiery red hue, while the other three
were pale green.
A strong sulphurous smell accom-
panied him, and intense heat emitted,
so much so that the bushes and grass
over which he moved had appearance
of being scorched by fire. When the
tail came out of the water ii was seen to
be in V shape, the broadcast part to-
ward the body, to which it was Joined
by a very small body cartilage about
twenty feet long and only about ten
inches in diameter. This tail on the
broad part was studded with very hard,
bony scales, shaped like the teeth of a
moving machine or reaper, about one
foot long and eight inches wide at the
base and cut everything smooth to the
ground as it was dragged over the sur
face. Pine and oak trees of four inches
in diameter were cut off as smoothly as
if done by a saw.
The creature made for one ofthe large
fresh water ponds in the rear of the
town known as Pasture pond. When
in the center, the head, which all this
time had been raised some thirty feet in
the air, began slowly to descend, and
was soon under the water, the body
slowly following it. AS the tail disap-
peared the water commenced to recede
from the shore, till the pond was left
completely dry, with large hole in the
center some 20 feet in diameter, per-
fectly circular, down which sounding
leads have beeen lowered $50 fathoms
and no bottom found. By standing on
the brink of the hole what appears to be
water can be seen long distance down.
Preparations are being made to further
the matter, and thousands
are fiocking to witness and view the
track of the huge sea monster.