St. Paul daily globe., 1888-07-29
WHAT WAS THE MONSTER?
Two Brooklynites Aver That They
EncOunted the Sea Serpent Off
,JOnaS' Island

Two BrookIynites Aver That They
EncOunted the Sea Serpent Off
Jones' Island.
M. A. Russell, of 1888 Bridge street.
Brooklyn, according to the Times of
that city, is a citizen of repute and
man whose yeracity-in spite of
his being an enthusiastic fish
erman-has heretofore never been
questioned. Mr.. Russell is on ordinary
and occasional Sundays he quits the
counter of the store for the counter of
the catboat, the tape measure for the
fathom-deep line, and the goose for the
bass or WeakfiSh, as the case may be.
Ou Saturday last, according to Mr.. Rus
sells statement, he hired a small yacht
of Stillwell, proceeded to Gravesend the
same evening. and embarked at an early
hour Sunday morning.
There was with him a Mr.. Joseph
Smithson, of 612 Atlantic avenue, and a
man namen Weener, who sailed the
boat. There was no whisky on board,
only bottled beer, and but a dozen of
that; some sandwiches, and small box
of cigars. At 7 o'clock the party
reached point off Long Beach. Here
they remained for a couple of hours,
when, the fish biting but indiffer-
emily, they determined to haul up
anchor and proceed farther out to
sea. This they did, and by a. m. were
somewhere about eight miles off Jones'
beach. Oh the Long island shore. Here
they remained till nearly noon, catch
ing a fair number of fish and enjoy
ing themselves hugely. Then they
concluded to rest from their labors for
M Il 10 &bal l,,.. IL
the bliSters on their hands. What fol-
lowed is told by Mr.. Russell thus:
SAT this juncture 1 was sitting on the
mid seat OF the boat. Weener was in
the stern smoking and doing, and
Smithson was seated in the bow with
his back toward me unfastening the
package of sandwiches. l was bending
down trying to draw refractory cork
from bottle, when suddenly l heard
SmithSOn give vent to half gasp, half
yell. Looking up saw that he had
risen and was gazing intently at
something at his right. / looked, too,
and there saw sight such as l shall
never forget if am spared to be 100.
Can you imagine an enormous snake,
fully thirty yards long, going through
the water at speed which would leave
swift steamer in the lurch in a few
moments. 1t left long eddy behind it,
the waves of which rocked our craft
perceptibly some minutes after the mon
ster had passed. 1t progressed through
the water with characteristic Sepentine
movement, but for the most part it's
head was held above the surface. Its
body looked as thick as flour barrel,
and, SO far as we could see, was a dark
brown above and lighter gray below.
From the nape of the neck downward
a T
so name it--of what appeared to be
coarse, greenish hair. The eyes
were long and almond-shaped and
very dark; every now and then
film would seem to cover
them like that which passes over the
eye of bird. Behind the mouth there
were number of perpendicular red
dish stripes, which we took to be gills
or something resembling them, as they
occasionally opened and shut in the
same way which these organs do in fish.
1t appeared to have blow holes
or nostrils above the mouth,
ing Its head under it blew water
through these orifces in the form of
vapor, accompanying the emission with
deep, hollow, roaring noise. Smith
son AYERS that when the thing opened
its mouth he saw hanging frIm the
upper jaw strings of something which
looked like whalebone, but this l can
not confirm, as did not notice it. The
huge reptile took not the slightest no.
tice of us, but bore away rapidly
toward Fire island. We watched it
while you could count $50, perhaps,
W len it suddenly sank and we saw it no
more. Now won't attempt to explain
TIM. appearance of the monster by the
c$and-dried methods. IT wasn't a
string of sharks, it wasn't floating sea-
weed, it wasn't lot of logs, it was
simply huge reptile-sea serpent or
what you like to call it-but a reptile,
nevertheless. such as is rarely seen by
human eyes,"
Mr.. Smithson, who was found at the
address given, confirmed Mr.. Russell's
story in every particular.