The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1894-07-28
GOT THE MONSTER TAIL.
PETERS ADVENTURE WITH THE
I SEA SERPENT.
Inc Mariners Dog Killed and His Boat
spllntered-Unfortun Mr.. Hansen
Lost the Best Proof of His Veracity-
"A Frigitful Reptile.

AeCer hansen, VINO lives at QUAR-
termaster, Wash, up on Puget
Sound, is the last man to have a per-
sonal encounter with that somewhat
elusive creature, the sea serpent,
says San Francisco paper. Twas
IN my boat towing a small raft of
cedar logs from the opposite shore
OF my ranch. The bay, or rather
strait, is about three miles wide here
ano l was within half mile of the
west shore, upon which stands nv
cabin. The raft l had in tow con-
tanned six newly-cut logs. Upon the
middle of the raft | had built a small
platform of cedar shakes, and on this
platform were my tools, a double
bltted chopping ak, broad ak, and
double-b -barrelled shotgun.
My ewfoundland dog was with
me in the boat, standing high up in
the bow barking at the ducks and
gulls.
Carl had just finished prolonged
fit OF barking at the ducks when he
suddenly fetched such an unusual
growl Of anger that | looked around
to see what the matter could be.
The sight that met my gaze paralyzed
me- land the oars dropped from my
hands. On my port quarter, about
three quarters Of a mile distant,
there loomed the swaying head and
neck Of some monster unlike any
thing had ever seen or dreamed Of
in all my life, and have been a sea-
man for more than forty years and
visited every part of the navigable
globe. .,.~~~rsssss
My first impulse was to reach nv
trusty shotgun, cartridge belt and
hatchet. l plunged into the sea and
swan fQr the raft, about twenty
yards astern, calling to my dog to
follow me. But I had miscalculated
the speed of the great snake, for
while yet several yards from the
raft heard howl of agony from my
brave Carl While had been swim
ming fifteen yards the snake had
glided more than half mile and
pounced upon Carl. The dog weighed
seventy-fve or eighty pounds. and
his green-eyed captor was holding
hinaSin his mouth twenty feet in&the
air.
do not know how I reached the
raft, but in less time than it takes to
record it l had seized the gun and
sent a heavy charge of buckshot
into the creatures belly about where
it emerged from the water. A vis-
ibie tremor passed through his body,
his head fell, and, bringing Carl
down with frightful velocity, the
poor dog was hurled against the
side of the boat with force that
killed him instantly. The snake re-
leased his hold, and Carl's body sank
out of sight. Throwing back his
hooked head in true serpentine
style, he began to strike at the boat
At one time, fastening his jaws
upon the starboard gunwale, he
wrenched off a piece of solid timb ber
five feet long and two inches thick
as easily apparently, as a man would
bite into the thin end of shingle.
Throwing his body inro series of
coils eight feet in diameter he COM
pletely encircled the boat, and with
one construction crushed it into a
shapeless mass. An adequate idea
of the strength of the monster
may be judged from the fact
that my boat had formerly been
the pinnace of large ship built of
oak, with inch planking and natural
crook knees under the thwarts
After crushing the boat the serpent
did not Immediately uncoil himself,
but lay for some minutes with the
fragments still in his embrace, while
the everlasting tail whipped the sur
face of the sea.
Curiously enough in one of it's
gyrations the end of the tail fell
upon my raft, and with what must
have been superhuman agility I
seized my broad axe and with one
blow cut off five feet of the wiggling
end. was esteeming this most
valuable prize, but before | could
secure it the Shiny mass wriggled
into the water and was lost. From
this time the great reptile evidently
began to weaken from the loss of
blood, which was pouring in streams
from his head and the wound given
him by the broad-axe. Slowly re-
gaining his normal position in the
water the creature withdrew toward
the open sea and was soon out of
sight.
The great fattened head was
hooded like that of an East Indian
cobra, and from the tip of the nose
to the insertion of the neck would
have measured perhaps three feet.
The head was fully two feet and a
half wide, but appeared to be def
aient in vertical depth. The eyes
" "ere set forward Of the hooded ap-
pendage and were as large as the
eyes of an OK. There were no indi-
cations of a dorasl fin or rudimentary
feet, as have been attributed by
some former observers to the So
called sea serpent.
While the snake was coiled around
my boat | had a pretty good oppor-
tunity to study the great size of it's