The St. Johns herald., 1891-10-01
':The eater of the Mississippi"

curdling stories of a terrible crea-
 ture, part beast, part bird, part ser
 pent and part man, which we are
 told formerly inhabited the bluffs and swamps of the Great Father oI Waters between the mouths of the Missouri and the DesMoines rivers. Most writers of later days are of the opinion that such creature never existed, in fact they put the pattern ity of the story on to certain Mul- nations who are known to have been fond of "giving to airy noth- ings a habitation and a name" For more than century after the advent of the white man in the Mississippi Valley stories of the "Man-eater" were told and general ly believed, but soon these were all to be denied and refuted. Then the very existence of such a crea- ture was doubted, but there was Father Marquette's description of the creature to back those who still believed that such a monetrosity had at one time existed in what is now the Central United States. Then another class of wonder mon- gers sprang up who claimed to have seen picture of the creature paint ted on the bluff near where Alton, H., now stands. AS years went on even this story was denied, In 1888, when the question was up for discussion, J. R. Miles of Miles Sta ton, H., wrote an article for the Alton Telegraph, of which the fol- lowing are extracts. Il first saw the animal, if animal it could be called, in 1883, and since that date l have seen it was destroyed by the clements or by the hand of men during the late Civil War" "The enclosed is an exact picture of it. !" Following the last sentence quoted Mr. Miles gives picture of the creature, which shows it was with a body like lion. except that the legs are very short and the body long and 1.-the, like that of panther. Wings oi a curious pattern with eight feathers at the points fasten 70 the shoulders and extend to beyond the root of the tail, which IS long and slender, seeming to be made in imitation of that of a tiger. The neck is very heavy, we'll arched and full, surmounted by what I would take to be good picture of the head of buck deer of ' or s years of age the horns being broad, each with four points. After giving his picture MT. Miles goes on to say: Many, many times have I exam ined the picture closely. and l must say that 1t is a mistake for anyone to say that it was painted on the rocks. The bird, or animal, was cut, chiselled or picked into the solid rock, but how, when or by whom I know not. It's body was that of a lion, it's head and horns those of deer, and it's wings those of blrd. Draw your own conclu- sions as to wlat it was intended 10 represent, but I firmly believe that the above, fac-simile of the Pic tn on the Rocks, was the handi- craft and handiwork ot man, chiselled or cut into that rock to commemorate some person or some thing Everybody believes that the sphinx was built to repre- sent a parsonage. Why not believe that this mythical bird-beast was made to represent the noble deeds of some great person of prehistoric times in America"
 With the article sent the Tele- graph Mir. Miles also enclosed a picture of the creature described by Marquette, which is identical with that above. with the exception that it has mans head, it's feet, four in number, much resembling birds claws.