The morning news., 1894-11-25
when Down East Hard the siren

The great ocean tug Spriughiu of PARIS
Doro, y. >. Is now In the harDor on her
rr a barge Of coal, saws the Portland. (AIe.D
Fress. The Springhil viii be long re-
memoereq along the coast by many d
person whom II has terrified, and many
another whom its mas bothered and per
picked. IL is the first steamer plying on
the coast 10 carry one of those unearthly
siren whistles that combines the walls
OF lost soul with shrieks of mortal
agony and fierce whOps and yells, as of
victorious saVages.
When the tug was finished and the i'm
ported whistle was first tried in PARIS
boro, there was fun for those who knew
about IL, but for nobody else, says Capt.
Oooh- As the strange, unsarthly noise
Went hurtling among the hits ana valleys
and along the shore, first like q Wild hob
goblin, then like d chorus of ghosts, and
then Ike a death Striken animal, man
who was digging clans near by dropped
his clam hoe and made tracks for the
shorG t4eep ones, JoOD, scattering the mud
IN al directions. lie stumbled ana fell
PACK on the bank, but was i'm too much
OF hurry 10 set UP, and scrambled out
OF sight in the bushes on his hands and
A small boy driving home his cows
jumped foot in the air as the awful
noise struck the hill behind him He cast
bee-line for home
An old woman afterward told Capt.
COOK that she thought it was a big dog
m her cellar indulg1ng in the widest
one foggy night the light house keeper
at Little River, near Cutler, was sitting
outdoors on the bare rock which is
tull OF great creVices and gullies. "All
Ter once. as he described it afterward,
a yell came out of that crack there,
then yell come outer that crack there,
an another come outer that crack there.
to Cutler"
Was he scared? Was the cliffs all at
once possessed OF devils? He argued to
himself after his hair came down that it
might be mother seals calling TO their
young, but he couldn't fool himself that
The next day he went to Cutler. Had
they heard that awful yellin' in the night?
es, they had. It had awakened half of
the town. one old man, who lived alone
with his daughter, got up bravelY when
ne heard the noise, loaded his old musket
ana went out into the night ACCOMPANIED
by his daughter, who was too frightened
to remain alone in the house. y
They neither saw nor heard anything.
Finally the old man said: 'It come from
the sea. anyhow it can't get at us no
how. So they went back to bed
Al East MaChiaS the people thought a
bear was attacking the cattle and four
men armed with guns searched long
and carefully, but no bruin or sign of
bruin could be found.
At another a man and his son were
hunting together. They were some dis
tance apart when the noise came The
rather thought some wild Crea ture was
attacking his son. and rushed to the res
cue only TO md the latter as prepared as
he was.
one day this summer a Portland man
was sitting in a Commercial street office
| when the Springhill came up the harbor
ana saluted. He jumped into the air
brought his fist down hard on the table
and exclaimed, There's that id thing
What is it2"
Several weeks before, while on Great
Diamond tsland. one foggy day. the
| agonizing yells OF that siren whistle Were
scattered all over the island by its re-
/ NOlVlng throat. 1t turned the people right
! out OF the cottages in general amazement
Most OF them thought that something had
/ happened 10 the COWS that roam through
| the woods of the island. But some thought
! the distressing believing came from one
! quarter and some from another.
Apparently our friend above mentioned
! had been wondering ever since what made
that noise.
The siren whistle is terrifying not only
Z because of the sound Itself, but because
it is hurled at the cars from so many
quarters because it revolves. 1t does
not last long; already that on the Spring
Z hill is nearly worn out.