Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-29
A MONSTER IN DlSREPUTE
Bones That Caused a Vast Sensation in
the Cherokee Strip.
They Turn Out to BE the Remains of
HhnIe-Supposed to lie REM
nunts of BOytOn's Show.

Certain parties out west will doubtless be
deeply disappointed when they learn that
a wonderful fossil which they have n
Their possession WILL in all proba ility never
reach the halls of the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition, nor be permitted TO startie the
scientific circles of Washington as they
had intended
"A few days ago a clerk in the pension Of
flee received photographs of skeleton
which mad been dug up in the Cherokee
Strip, not far from mis- home. and which
represented the fragnentary remains of an
~~sDimdl Of such prodigious dimensions as 10
dwarf all similar discoveries in this or any
:-0ther country. A letter accompanying the
Jpictures described the bones as having been
Sfound in such a position as 10 prove con-
yClus.rely that the creature must have been
ynot less than three hundred feet long,
Swhile the length of its ribs tof which only
1.-TWO appear to have been found. twenty
-ssix feet gave an idea as TO what its girth
sSnust have been. The skull was sixteen
eject around. and measured four feet across
Sthe eye sockets. The partly decayed nose
2of the monster, of which eleven feet re-
Smained, calculated to have originally
2been seven yards in length. These dimen-
Esons seemed to be corroborated by the
photographs sent.
4 The discovery of what appeared to be "a
s,toe-bone, two feet long indicated that i,
4 might have been a land animal or possibly
san amphlbian-a member of that family of
$gigantic saurians or lizards which flourish
@Sed in the Jurassic age. a thousand CEN
@stur.es tmore or less) before Adam appeared
&on the scene. This theory was dis
Tpelled by the finding of fin bore eleven
= feet in length; then 1t was decided chat it
< must have been some monster of the ocean.
y ard one that could have easily have stow
y ed away the entire ship and crew to which
i Jonah belonged.
4. This remarkable find was made nearly
rsyear ago by two gentlemen, ami il created
. such excitement that they put II on eXhi
2 bition.- large tent was erected over the
= remains, and, 1t is said. the proprietors
= made as high as 500 per week at admis-
sion fee OF ten cents, all visitors being
= promised a refundng of their money IL
x they We're not satisfied that il was THE
y biggest thing on earth" There is no record
of anybody having demanded his money
s. back Finally, a yearning desire to let the
z world have the benefit of their discovery,
= and incidentally to part with the skeleton
= Tor good lump sum, induced them TO Offer
It, through the pension office clerk TO the
Z museum authorities in this city
= But when the Photographs were shown
i Yesterday to Mr. F. A. Lucas, curator of
!. the depa rtment of comparative anatomy of
Z! the Smithsonian Institution, he at once
rendered a verdict that was disastrous to
i the hopes of the Cherokee Strip savants
y Mr.. Lucas is an expert in bones, and can
=. see as far through skeleton. or the pic
e, ture of one, as airy man in this country
&. w ny, that is d whale he sad, and
- big one, too. Those long bones are not ribs
= but arc jaw bones. and the Whale was of a
: cut there?"
>. oh eAt.iiiiinS the photographs more close
!, y, Mr. Lucas detected square hole in the
!. skull, which, he said. showed that 1t had
!. formerly been mounted for exhibition.
$, some years ago. he continued. the
:; carcass of large whale was carried around
( the country on Nat cars and exhibited. The
. owners of the big creature among whom
. was the celebrated swimmer, Capt. Paul
: Boyton, had tried to preserve it from spoil
:. ing by boring many holes in its flesh and
= injecting carboic acid therein. The failure
) OF this experiment was fully attesled by
= the unpleasant sensation which the remains
:: caused in the freight yard in this city while
! resting over night Its stay in Washington
% was short, and it is quite probable that il
soon ceased to attract sghtseers who had
any olfactory organs worth mentioning
and became a serious burden to it's owners
1t disappeared somehow, and has not been
heard of since"
Although Mr.. Lucas did not say as much
- the inference connecting the missing whale
with the attenuatad monster of the Chero-
~kee Strip was quite plain. The fact that
= :. JOINTS OF the spinal column were found at a
distance of 30 feet from the skull aroused
no enthusiasm in him. They might have
4 r, been skllfully placed in that position by the
: parties who lost" that whale some years
ago. with view to future reiiscoVery and
, use. There was no evidence. however that
the present owners of the remains had any
&! but the most honest intentions and belief
In the matter.
Mr.. Lucas said this reminded him of
clever fraud perpetrated by one Albert
= koch in this country In 1915. He Joined
d, the bores of three whales together in such
way as to appear as the skeleton of an
ocean monster of the pre-Adamite world
the skull of one whale forming the breast
bone. Koch OPPORTUNITY discovered" the
remains OF the strange creature, which he
named the "hydr archus or great water
king 1t drew great crowds of s!ghtseers
even after the detection of the fra I'D which
& soon followed when anatomists got a chance
40 look it over.