The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-02
THE SEA SERPENT Is CAUGHT.
He becomes Shipwrecked on New
York and Falls an Easy Prey.

From the Philadelphia Press.
New York. July s0.-The night watch on
BIackwel's Island turned out this even
ing. and according TO their account. cap
tured sea serpent after a hard battle. He
was sailing through the East river. evil
IDENTITY making a short cut from Long
Island sound, where ne has been playing 10
crowded houses. 20 the New Jersey coast
resorts. which he was TO take in as part
Of his summer circuit. owing, no doubt.
20 his attention being distracted by the
many odd sights and sounds in the river.
he allowed himself to run aground. Then
tbs guards at Blackwell's Island attacked
him and dragged him ashore.
A great difference Of opinion exists as
10 the circumstances of the capture. But
the one grand fact remains that the ser
pent. or one Of him. is caught; that IS,
II the opinion of the medical staff on
BlackWelrs Island is final as to sea ser
penis. Dr. George T. Stewart, chief of the
stan Of the Metropolitan hospital on the
island, made the following important
statement tonight: cot course cOnvinc-
ing proof as TO the identity of the beast
can only be had by a careful autopsy, but
I have little doubt that n is a genuine sea
serpent. At any rate, it is a good enough
sea serpent for me-"
The Blackwels Island sea serpent Is
and a short tail. His captors saw very
little difference between his shape and
that Of an ordinary rattlesnake. He has
large, sharp teeth, and with these he
made violent attempts to bite them.
The sea serpent betrayed his presence
to one Of the island guards, so they say,
by his cries Of distress when he found
himself aground. At first he tried to
climb off the reef, but finding this i'm
possible began to yell vigorously. The
night guard who found him said that the
cry sounded like one of pain from
big dog. He thought at once that a
prisoner had been injured In making his
escape. and was helpless. Then he went
down TO the waters edge, and to his
horror he saw the green Shiny eyes of the
awful creature looking into his with rage
and hate
He was swapping his teeth and foam
ing at the mouth" said the keeper. His
beard was covered with blood and his
hair was standing on mo. I didn't dare
to 90 near him till had summoned some
other men. We attacked him in a body
and he died almost without a struggle
So soon did his death occur that some of
the men who were jealous of our bravery
say that he was dead when we tackled
him. But that's all nonsense. He was
terribly alive and hungry, too, 1 should
judge, by the way in which he snapped at
us"
Whether this is the same sea serpent
that has been seen so often in the sound
lately is not now plain. 1t is generally be-
liaved by sea serpent experts there must
be school of the monsters in the sound
as so many have been seen.
OF course, no one can tell positively
where this creature stranded on Black
wells Island, came from. Perhaps there
is in truth a school of them in the sound,
and the waters about New York city. Per-
haps this monster, which landed tonight
at Blackwelrs Island is the very one
which was received this evening the fol-
lowing from New London, Conn: The
sea serpent was evidently informed that
the New York Yacht Club would be here
to-day and he promptly put in an appear
ance In the lower harbor. He was seen
| disporting himself in true serpent style
performing his additions when seen by
! four of the citizens Of this town. in a let
ter to the public press these men give the
following written testimony to which they
are willing to make oath, VIZ:
1.-THE under named four men were out
in rowboat Monday night, when they
came across the sea serpent. 1t rose
astern of their boat and to their conster-
nation made for them. 1t seemed at first
just piece of seaweed, but when it raised
its head and part of its body seven OIL
eight feet out of the water they got out OF
the way as quickly as possible. When il
sank into the water it made noise that
was something like the sound of whistle
Henry Maynard, julie Petrie, f. Saville
L. Ingram"
Capt. Hazard of the Sound steamer New
Hampshire, saw the serpent on the night
of July 16. When the New Hampshire was
about twelve miles east of New Haven the
| captain heard great splashing in the
| water. He turned the search light upor
| the place and saw huge brown object
! low in the water, moving eastward II
| seemed to be about seventy-five feet long
and il was alive. A foamy wake marked
| its track after it had passed. These are
| the facts to which Capt Hazard viii
swear Some of his passengers also claim
to have seen the wonder and make in.
| teresting statements about fiery eyes ant
! glowing scales as the serpent plowet
/ along.
Capt Williams of the steamer Connect
cut reports seeing his snakeship about ar
| hour after Capt. Hazard passed it, Sew
eral Christian EndeavOrers on board tn,
! Lowell viii swear that they too saw tn,
sea serpent. Farmer SIackweH Twins
ten miles to the westward was aston
! ished one morning of late by d tremendou,
waterspout He climbed up his haystack
! took an observation and found that tn,
water commotion was caused by a hing,
sea monster, which he believes to hay,
| been the sea serpent.
one of the most curious and interestinf
reports of the sea serpent comes from ar
| elderly New Londoner, who owns a small
yacht, on which he sleeps. The yacht wa,
anchored not far from New London las
week. one night. just as the owner mac
finished a letter to his wife, he heard !
| strange shrek from out the waters Ulx,
the scratching of a slate pencil upon ]
slate. He rushed up on deck and saw two
huge red lights approaching him. At frs
| he thought it was a steamboat and shout
ed through his cupped hands: Keen Off
keep off; you'll run me down" Another
| hideous shrek was the answer, and tber,
arose out of the water what looked to he
| to the yacht owner an enormous cork
screw with a grinning head on it.