Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-12-30
LEGEND OF THE PlASA

/ LEGEND OF THE PIASA
ore or THE STORIES TOLD m CAL
I houN COUNTY, ILLS
n Ps-s-~av w. Dne~a 80 Lss4
=. IsAa.ns-CASsl OsssgA Nss LIN -
. Bsu4 s.a Killed HiD-He w. -
In . Rsek = . weather Signal
In 1873, when Jolies and AarQasets -
ceudsd The Illinois river on their return from
The discovery Of the Mi~isippi. they aw On
The right hand elf, not far above the Illinois
mouth, what they were pleased TO consider
The picture Of . devil The good priest TIED
sfssrward to make drawing Of the creature.
aad though bis drawing was poor and mex
Get be sent it TO France, where it d saad 70
Be preserved among the papers Of the colony.
In later DAYS il has been written and talked
| about = The picture On the rock above Al
ton It was cut and painted II 70 early .
day that the Indians could give only uadi-
tons about it, and il might have remained
there until this time, but in 1876 some sealous
DEVELOPER Of western resources quarried il
away.
This picture, which Father Marquette aw
| with startled eyes, considering it . sign Of
aboriginal depravity, was called the PiasA
| fPi@-nuL or Destroyer Mr.. William Nc
| Adams. in . recent book, gives a description
| Of the Piasa, and = representation OF it which
differs from picture painted by Mayor LAdd.
Of Whitehall, only in two points. He gives
| The creature fish tail and carries its folds
| lsnsth wise around the body. while Mr. LAdd
has wound this snake like appendage three
| times around the PiaaA's middle and ended it
with . dragon dart Mr.. Ladd painted his
picture from the description given by Squire
| Russell. Of Blufdale, who has been nearer the
piasa than any person now living
| have been to Squire Russell to beg that
| be would tell me all he could recall about
| that strange inscription of which 80 many
| untrue things will doubtless be told as time
goes on.
SQUIRE re sSILL's STORY OF THE PIASA.
I Il used to climb the rocks to, look at it
| when was boy he said. Il have been
within sixty feet of it. l once pointed it out
| from the deck Of steamer to an English
| lady and she looked At it with a field glass.
| No wings showed that day, for the weather
was dry The colors were always affected by
dampness. and stood out distinctly after rain.
| Father Marquette evidently saw the Piasa on
| . dry day, for he pictured it without wings
The picture was cut into the surface Of
the rock half an inch or more, and originally
painted with red, black and blue 1t had the
head Of q bear, large, disproportioned teeth,
the horns Of an elk, the scaly body OF Il fish,
and bears legs ending with eagles claws.
| The tail was at least fifty feet long. wound
three times around the body, and ended in =
spear head. The upper horns were painted
red the lower portion and head black. The
| wings were expanded to the right and left of
| the face, and the Piasa was at least sixteen
| feet long Its head and neck were covered
| with . name, and its body confusedly col.
ored with all three Of the colors usei.
IN 1890 Capt Gideon Spencer came up
the Mississippi, and saw the picture on the
rock. He asked the Indians what it was, and
they told him it was the Storm Bird, or
| Thunderer; that it had been placed there by
. warike tribe long before any emigration to
| the great lakes The Indians would fire of
their guns at it, and some of them made it
| offerings Of tobacco, smoked their pipes to it,
| and performed such other ceremonies as they
made use Of to propitiate bad manitous while
passing by the rock"
| Tribes who fingered after the white men
came had this clear legend Of the Piasa hand
ed down through generations
| A long time ago, when animals Of mon
strous growth still walked the earth, or with
awful bat wings lay upon and darkened the
| air, this destroyer lived in cave, in the rock
| along that river now called the Illinois His
| haunts were full Of his victims bones. For q
| time lie was contented monster and salts
a. 4 IL. ...,tsk I'll Ia
| to swoop down upon a herd, set his claws in
the finest and latest beef carry bis selection
| Of to his den, and eat it in privacy uIi con-
| fort But he got taste of Indian and from
that time forth his game was man An arm
lead OF papoost.s. plump sIuaw, or n mus
| cular brave became his accustomed meal
Whole tribes were going down the hopper Of
this creatures jaws, There must have been
q reverse SHE to this picture, as such pres
ent personal Satan could hardly help check
| ing forwarlness in Young Indians. Still the
least calculating Of savage minds saw that
| the Destroyer would soon depopulate the
country unless the country succeeded in de
populating him.
ONrEGA vANQCISHEs THE PlASA.
Ontega was at that time the great chief of
. warlike tribe callei the lllini He deter
mined to rid mankind Of the Piasa by hook
or crook, by battle or ~ strategy. So like a
knight in the days OF dragons, he betook
himself to fasting and vision-seeing and it
was revealed to him from heaven that the
Piasa could be taken of only by sacrificing
the best man in the tribe. When this was
proclaimed to the tribe they all began to wall
and lament, and resign every honor in favor
Of Ontega-he was the best man i'll the tribe
on the first ballot. Still they did not want
him sacrificed, and earnestly begged he would
invent some other way of overcoming the
Piasa. 1t may be supposed that the Piasa's
swooping down and picking of another
brave in the midst Of their deliberations
somewhat reconciled them to Ontegas plan
He picked out an exposed rocky point, and
directed his people to hide in their wigwams.
Before the Piasas next dinner time he had
ambushed his best warriors around the eX-
posed rocky point. The Piasa's horns and
head were seen craning out of its cliff door.
Ontega mounted the rock, weaponiess,
dressed in the full costume of chief, with
the royal feathers bristling from his head.
The fiasa contemplated him with extreme
satisfaction, spread membraned wings, and
sailed to the encounter. Ontega, with folded
arms, chanted his death song, but just as the
Destroyer was dropping like shot from .
shot tower upon him the concealed marks
men riddled it with arrows Sharp hints of
al sorts thrust it through and shafts stuck
quivering out Of its CARCASS.
Not even the tip Of Ontegas plume was
bent. He had been preserved by the power
above for when a man looks with undaunted
eye and patient courage at approaching ca
lamity heaven itself fights for him
This was the end Of the Piasa There were
no more free lunches Of Indian on the banks
Of that fair river. We may imagine tine tribe
spreading out the uncouth remains meaAlr-
ing them and grinning, and quarreling about
who had actually killed the Piasa. Had they
been civilized we might now have a multi
plicity Of volumes proving that every war
riOr who shot an arrow on that occasion was
the sole savior Of his tribe. But they were
honest barbarians. and in their hearts and
traditions gave all the credit to Ontega.
To commemorate the event, the image Of
the Piasa was cut in the cliff close to its old
haunts and painted with colors which out
lasted nations. Those early people had not
such . bad idea Of monuments Mary h
CAtherwood in Chicago Tribune
IL the Sea Warmer After n Storm.
Is there ANY truth in the sailors tradition
that the sea is warmer after stormi Plu-
tarch remarked that the sea became warmer
by being agitated in waves, and there is no
doubt that when water is sufficiently agi-
tated their action is converted into heat
Professor Tyndall says the sailors tradition
is Theoretically correct, as the mechanical
dash of the pillows Of the eea is ultimately
converted into heat He uses the term
Theoretically correct" because ne says that