Huntsville gazette., 1886-09-18
ESTEIlLINE'S SERPENT.
Terrific Adventure With Prodigi-
GUS Reptile.

last week 6ett warning the business
men of Estelline that unless they speed
lily discovered a sea serpent in the
neighborhood or hired some reliable
person to do SO that the place would
lose trade. had the desired effect. 1t
will be remembered that the Bell
pointed out the fact that we had waited
long enough for serpent to come in
and ask to be discovered and that it
was time to 60 out and discover one
whether it wanted to be discovered or
not. We directed attention to how by
inacticn Estelline failed to get the cap
ital but allowed it to be thievishly
stolen by a base and spoils-fattened
Bismarck ring reeking with the
rankest corruption Eve quote from a
Yankton author) and how we were
again getting left on the serpent
racket; how Watertown, Devils Lake,
Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, Fargo, Pierre,
Deadwood and other Dakota towns had
sent their leading citizens out cunning
for serpents and they had been success
full and how Estelline should act
promptly and yank out a serpent by
the tail from some place before it was
too everlastingly late. The remark of
the Bell bore good fruit and this week
we are enabled to announce the dis
covery of the snakiest serpent in seven
States.
Early Thursday morning Estelline
decided to make the discovery. A team
and wagon and hay rack were secured
for the trip to Lake Poinsett where it
was. decided to find the monster. A
careful selected party was made up
consisting of Frank Weygant, John
Dunn, +. E. Lally, j. w. Catlett,
Frank Parsons, John Briar, Jack
Barnes and the editor of this hearth
stone companion. Each was selected
for his special fitness on some
point, as for instance it was thought
that Weygant might come in handy to
step on the critter with his luxuriant
growth of feet should it act cross and
charge the party, while Dunn was ex-
pecting to use his ample and unani-
nous laugh to lure it from its hole,
while Jack Barnes was, of course, taken
as chief discoverer. The others were
! also added for some good point they
were supposed to possess for searching
sor snakes. A large demijohn OF the
gerpent bait used SO successfully at
Watertown was also taken and loomed
mp in the back end of the wagon like
the smoke stack on soap factory.
The trip to the lake was made with
some difficulty The hot and scalding
, sun shone down through the clear,
thin air with terrible intensity. There
was no cloud to break it's force. The
Z intense and whitening heat warped the
boards of the rack and they rolled up
like autumn leaves. The tires dropped
off the wheels and horse after horse
of the team fell, cut down by the fur
nace-like heat. When the party at last
,s reached. the lake every member was
Unconscious but happy in the thought
e that The serpent was about to be dis
coveren.
We arranged ourselves around the
lake and began to look for the serpent.
We all remained in this position for
some time, straining every nerve to
discover the monster and stirring up
the water with sharp sticks. 1t was a
trying time--the flower of Estelline
was there and determined to pull a
sixty-foot snake out of that lake by the
roots or bust. The search was kept up
for about two hours when it was decid
ed that valuable time was being wasted
and that the best course would be to
send boat out to the middle of the
lake and discover the scaly monster On
its native heath and jab a pitch-fo fork
into it. Jack Barnes, Captain Lally and
Frank Parsons were accordingly sent
out in small boat. They had rowed
about two miles through the boil
ing and bubbling water when the
boat was suddenly struck from below
by some superhuman and unseen force
and thrown into the air over sixty
feet. 1t fell backinto the Kissing and
steaming water with loud report and
the three serpent discoveries imme-
diately got out over the side and
walked to the land. They said they
knew when they had enough.
The whole party was by this time
considerably excited as each realized
that the slimy and awful reptile of the
unexplored deep had been found. All
gathered around the demijohn for
safety. We had scarcely done SO when
the hideous head of the unknown mon
ster raised ont of the water with a
grinding, sickening sound, only about
aquarter of mile from the shore.
The whole party was thrown to the
ground with horror. overcome by
strange, unnatural feeling never before
experienced. The very air seemed
loaded with poisonous vapors and the
breeze itself had a sharp metallic feel,
ing as it struck against the face in fitfui
gusts. The landscape grew lurid and
the trees waved with dizzy, uncertain
motion while hundreds of fishes, GELS,
water snakes and other strange, i'll