Democratic messenger., 1894-12-01
MUD MERmAioS.
Strange Hun,aniike Creatures That Live
In the Ohio River.

On the sand bar in the Ohio river
near Nevay, Ind. reside two monde
script creatures horrible in appearance
and habit. They are amphibious i'll ma
ture and resemble in appearance huge
lizards with human features. When
partly submerged i'll the yellow waters
Of the Ohio. they are strangely like hu-
they are no one knows. for it is impos-
sible to get near enough to them TO judge
correctly. The sand bar in question at
low tide is covered with huge logs and
s,umps Of tres, known in the river yer-
nacular as snags. They have been de-
posted 10y tue government snag boats
engaged in teeping the channel clear.
When the wafer j. nigh enough TO COW
er these snags. the creatures make THEN
home among them. Wren the water re.
cedes, they disappear into some unknown
lair and wait for rise.
From indications they appear to be
carnivorous. Among the snags are to be
found wagon loads of mussel shells,
fish bones and other debris of animals
When the river goes down. these shells
and other srticles disappear only TO be
succeeded by fresh lot. This is evi.
dencc 10 those who have watched the
coming and going of the strange things
that they live upon such food.
II has been about four years since
they were first noticed about Eevay.
The fisherman who SAW the strange
heads protIuding from the stream had
never heard OF "A mermaid. and his de
scription was such "a IL cause the be
lief in the minds Of fhe better educated
that. after oil. tn. nld myth might b.
true in some degrt-".
Some days sace, Captain j. VI. OZlei
Of CovingtoII. Ky. who is in charge OF
u travelling art exhibition. came to this
place to make arrangements for al en-.
tertainmcnt. He heard of the strange
mermaids ami paid their haunts sever.
al visits in the hope Of being able &c
get glimpse Of them. In this he was
successful, going 50 far rs 10 get q pen
Gil sketch Of the mall, amphibian. Seat
cd on the bank. he watched il swimming
within 90 feet of the spot where he oh
served its movements.
From notes taken OH the ground the
description as furnished by Mr.. OzieI
states that the beast Is about feet in
length and should weigh about l5C
pounds. Its general color is yellowish.
The body between the fore legs resembles
that Of . human being. Back of the
hind legs it tapcrs TO a point. This
point in 10 way resembles a tail. The
legs, four in number. resemble the arms
and legs OF the human. The fore legs
are shorter than the hind pair and ars
used i'll the same manner as arms. The
extremities resemble hands and are
webbed and furnished with sharp claws.
On the back and one-third of the way
around the body appears mass of strag-
CLING. coarse hair. The skin below the
fore legs is thick and resembles elephant
hide. On the arms and about the face
and neck il Is OF finer texture and
brighter yellow color than the rest OF
the body.
The head of the nondescript beast l.
the most remarkable part of its makeup.
1t is devoid Of hair and is strangely like
that of human being. Its ears art
sharp pointed and stand up like those OF
dog. There is no intelligence in the
face, which in contour is like that of an
idiot. Mr.. Ozier declares that it re-
sembles To % great extent the freak
known as Zip. or the What-is-it, which
was exhibited first by r. T. Barnum. In
a. ssl~
effort and does not cause much commo.
tion in the water Only its head and q
part of the slightly arched back arc
shown while swimming. When fright
ened, instead Of diving like duck oi
making quick flop. the strange beast
sinks from view like stone Ii is ex-
ceedingly timid in nature, fleeing at the
first approach of "a human being. Gin
cinnati Enquirer.