The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-11
WARWICK MOUNTAIN DEVIL
Shattered The Nerve Of Four Truthful
Hunters and Three Dogs.

N@AootAS al EARbaA4bApn beHh seen IN
This state-old sne Norton Seems to
Know Something About It.
Middletown Letter in New York sun.
About ten miles from here is the
pretty little town of Warwick II
is in the Warwick valley and
on every side the mountains loom up
around it. About 100 people live IN
Warwick all the year round, and in the
summer this number is usually increased
by 500. The people of Warwick are for
the greater part advocates of temperance.
That is what makes the strange tale
which comes from this little town all the
more remarkable.
At present the townfolk are greatly
wrought up over the alleged appearance
of a devil The devil was not seen by one
man alone, but by four at the same time.
As a result these four men are Frustrated,
and three hunting hounds who had the
misfortune to be with their masters at
the time refuse to eat or drink and lie in
their kennels all day whining. The four
men are George Springer, Code Smith,
Dave Green and DorY Toner, all emf
nently respectable men, who have spent
regulations for nerve and veracity Since
his first appearance the devil has re-
manned in seclusion, and skeptics hint
that there Is no possibility of his ever be-
ing seen again. with a doubtful mark
after the again" Nevertheless nothing
short of q team of horses could pull any
one of tbs men near the-dreaded spot.
Parts of Warwick mountain are, bar
ring the wild beasts, as wild as African
iunglcS. The mountain is about two
miles from town. 1t is thiclIly wooded,
and the roads, which are seldom used, are
almost covered with a heavy underbrush.
Last Sunday afternoon Smith, Green,
Toner and Springer, accompanied by
three hounds, went out to do little hunt
ing, They walked a good many miles
along the mountain side and it was dark
before they started for home They took a
different road back, they say; going over
the mountain instead of around it. An
old brOkcn-down house on a deserted
farm on top of the mountain is known as
the Caleb Saycr place 1t is
a gloomy spot in the daytime and worse
at night There is not a house within
three miles of it, and superstitious per-
sons have declared it to be the abode OF
ghosts and spirits, The men say as they
approached the place the dogs, who had
been unusually frislSy, began to whine and
run around with their tails between their
legs. Surprised at this conduct, the hunt
ers cooked their guns and looked carefully
around, but could see nothing. AS they
approached the old house the dogs whined
louder than before, and finally refused to
follow their masters The men tried to
drag them along, but they hOwled so that
they were released. The moment they
were free they ran back over the road,
and that was the last seen of them until
Monday morning, when they returned
home with their tails between their legs
They have since refused TO leave their
kennels
After the dogs ran away the men pro-
ceeded along the road until they were OPP
posite the gate which formerly barred the
entrance to the old Caleb Sayer farm.
There they stopped, The first remarkable
thing that happened was the sudden
springing up of "a cool breeze. There had
been little wind up. to that time, and the
men were surprised. All of sudden a
pale green light appeared among
the ruins II was not brilliant light,
but dull and gloomy. They at first thought
that something was on fire and We're dis
cussing the advisability of rushing in and
extinguishing the flames when a figure
suddenly appeared. 1t seemed to be
standing on the edge of piece of board
and there was a demoniacal grin on it's
face. Its hand was in the air and as it
looked at the spellbound men it rolled
its eyes in most terrible fashion.
This much of the story the four men
agree upon. But there are details in
which they do not agree. For instance
while Springer insists that the apparition
had horns of a golden tint, Smith is
equally positive that it did not, and Green
and SOmer acknowledge that they were
too badly scared TO pay much attention to
details. All agree, however, that the ap-
partition had whiS6ers and nustache
which Green and Smith insist were pale
green, but the other two are very positive
that they were of a brilliant pink. 1t is
possible that the pale green halo which
seems TO have lowered around the appari-
ton may have dazzled Messrs. Smith and
Green, until they could see no other color
The men agree that the face ''shOne like
a BOTTLE" and that the hands were as
bright as though they had been rubbed in
phosphorus. The body, they say, was of
a deep, dull black. 1t was so black, in
fact, that the men could not make out
whether the thing wore clothes or not.
Not a sound did the apparition utter,
but it's actions spoke volumes. The hand
in the air was held in threatening man
ner, as though the apparition was about
to strike or to throw something While
were perfectly powerless, but as soon as
it disappeared their strength seemed to
come back again. The apparltion chose
a novel mode of making its exit One of
the men described it as follows to a re-
porter
THE greenish smoke" he said, "begau
to thicken, and gradually it entirely en-
veloped the body. Although the appari-
ton disappeared into the earth, the head
remained in the same position for several
seconds after the legs and body had dis
appeared. The green smoke surrounded
the legs first, and gradually crawled up
until it reached the head. Then the head
gave a last fearful grin and was itself
enYelOped in smoke. Suddenly the green
smoke cleared away and the apparition
was gone. Everything was as it had
been before the devil, or whatever it was,
appeared. The cold breeze stopped as
suddenly as it had sprung up. AS soon as
we could recover ourselves we pulled up
our guns and fired into the brush where
the thing had been. There was no sound
save that of our guns, and when we
jumped the fence and ran over and looked,
there was nothing to be seen. Each of US
thought we must have imagined It all,
but by comparing notes we found that we
had actually seen the devil. People may
laugh and tell us we had been drinking
too much, but say that the whole thing
is gospel truth. None of US had been
drinking. and we saw that thing as plainly
as ! see you now"
On Monday morning the four men