The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-19
A 3O.FOOT MONSTER.
The Missing Link to Be Seen in Death
Valley.

Valley.
From the SaH Francisco Examiner.
Tuesday morning last the Examiner pub
lished a statement made by George Nay, of
Needles, In relation to a large reptile that
had been seen in the vicinity of Daggett.
According to Mr.. Nay, E, w. Spear had
discovered a peculiar trail, and, following
it. came upon gigantic creature, unlike
anything he had ever had the pleasure of
meeting. He described it as thirty feet
long and thoroughly unpreposs essing.
spear withdrew without formality and
told mis- story, only to be laughed at. La
ter, Harry Brown saw the monster, and Mr..
Brown scratched the desert sands quite
hastily in retreat. AT the time Mr.. Ny
left Daggett party was being organized to
hunt this strange denizen of the valley.
Now appears Oscar W. Clark, scientist.
with weird tale and word painting of the
animal.
The announcement OF the experiences of
Messrs Spear and Brown rather anticipated
nae )" said Mr.. Clark yesterday. II had a
fine opportunity of seeing this strange denf-
zen of that mysterious land known as Death
Valley Desert, and desire to say that this
animal is the most wonderful living proof
of the exact authenticity of the researches
made by savants into the field of paleonto-
logical study.
''This animal is really the only living link
between prehistoric times and the present.
1t is virtually marvel of the ages, the
eighth wonder of tae world, a marvellous
illustration of the profound economy, of nat
ure. 1t was six weeks ago that | had the
pleasure of seeing this remarkable animal.
| was some thirty miles distant from Dag
gett. and stopped at 6 DEL ok in the even
ing to rest, having made some valuable adj
ditfons to my collection Of fossil remains.
Happening to glance to the southwest
through the haze peculiar to the desert l
saw a strange body moving along about one
mile away. | went toward it and was soon
both elated and Mortified by seeing an ami
NAL fully thirty feet long that differed
from any Of the known forms of the present
epoch. 1t was an immense monster, walk
ing part Of the time on its hind feet and at
times dragging itself through the sand and
leaving tracks of a three~toed foot and
peculiar scratchy CONFORMATION in the sand
whenever it changed its form OF locomo-
ton and dragged itself.
1.-THE fore limbs of the animal were ex-
tremely short and it occasionally grasped
the nearest shrub and devoured it. The
thumb of the three~pronged fore'foot was
evidently strong conical spine that would
be dangerous weapon of attack. When-
ever the animal stood upright it was fully
fourteen feet high.
ne 0edu was d5 lhIRo ho ROOu-aIZtu
cask and was shaped somewhat like horse,
while the body was as large as that of an
elephant, with tail extending from the
hind quarters something like that of an alli-
gator.
When l saw it the strange animal was on
the edge of a great sink-hole of alkaline
water-a sink-hole, by the way, that my
guides told me was b2ttomless pit, and
evidently remnant of the days when Death
Valley was an inland sea. I approached
within 300 yards Of the monster, crawling
cautiously over the sand, and watched it
for fully half an hour. Suddenly the beast
began to below, and the sound was of the
most terrifying and blood-curdling char
acter, Its immense eyes, fully as large as
saucers pro iected from the head and CLEANED
with a wild aud furious fire, while from the
enormous mouth Of the monster streams of
steam like vapor were exhaled, and as they
drifted toward one the e3luvia was some-
thing awful.
"The animal was liver color, with bronco
like spots. The monster dragged itself to
the edge OF the sink-hole and lashed its tail,
aud finally fell of into a quiescent condi-
ton. | left the scene and attempted to Sc
cure the assistance of my guides in an ef-
fort to capture the monster. but they were
absolutely terrified and refused to do any
thing.
From what saw of the animal I am
perfectly satisfied that it is one OF the spe-
cies Of the iguanodon bennissantensis.i OF
the European Jurassic, an animal present
ing many points of structure in common
with the iguana Of to-day. In fact, that is
the report that have sent in, and knowing
full well the geological environments OF the
Pacific slope and the very remarkable and
peculiar conditions regarding the Death
Valley section, am satisfied that my de-
auctions are correct and that there Is to-day