The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-01
A REAL SEA SERPENT,
TACOMA FISHERMEN PROVE THE
MONSTER IS NOT A MYTH.
THEY CAUGHT IT ALIVE.
Has n Bulldogs Head, a Tigers
Fangs, "a Snakes Body, a Fish's
Fins and a PuEiIfst's Neck.

That the West is rapidly assuming many
! OF the sacred prerogatives of the East was
| clearly demonstrated the other day by the
/ news from Tacoma Wn-, that there had
/ been captured in Hoods Canal. Puget
! Sound. two sea serpents.
Heretofore the East has monopolized the
sea serpent industry, but in its bravest
| days it never ventured the claim of having
seen two sea serpents at the one time, let
alone capturing them. In fact, heretofore
/ the East contented itself by thrilling reports
from time to time by its sea captains of
the magnitude of the sea serpents which had
been sighted. Sometimes these sea SER
penis were only sixty Ieet long, and again
they reached the stupendous length of 500
feet One captain Of an excursion barge
which was kept out all night in Long Island
Sound, so that the manager OF the bar on
Doard could sell all of his beer TO the thirsty
passengers. reported passing a sea serpent
1000 feet long, and some of the passengers
were quite sure it was 2, 900 feet long. 1t is
necessary to state that this sea serpent was
sighted after every drop Of beer and whisky
on board had been consumed.
The Tacoma sea serpents. as far as length
go, are very mild in comparison with their
Eastern brothers and sisters. One meas
ured ten feet and the other eight feet.
This, OF course, is disappointing, but their
capture proves beyond all peradVenture that
sea serpents actually exist. A number of
scientists have examined them without
being able to classify them One of the
sea serpents was killed during the capture,
but the other, a female, was alive and well
at last accounts.
A COMPOSITE MONSTER.
She is not a pretty creature by any
means. She has a head like a big bulldog
and an extraordinarily thick and long
neck measuring about twenty-six inches in
circumference. Her body is like that of
huge rattlesnake, striped and spotted and
tapering to point at the tail. A colossal
fin runs the entire length of the vertebrae,
and a similar fin underneath runs along
the stomach to the tail. She has great fangs
like those of a tiger and heavy molar
teeth. Behind the gills are inside fins, and
but for these she would never be recognized
bearing any kinship to the fish family.
If this sea serpent had not been captured
the fishermen who first saw it would doub,-
less be classed with what is generally termed
the grand army of sea serpent liars. When
the news of its capture reaches all parts OF
the world il will doubtless cause some
thing of a sensation, as scientists have
fought and wrangled over what is called
the sea serpent myth for many years. Yet
the books of the United States and Brit
ish navies are many records furnished by
captains of WarShips of sea serpentS which
had been seen. Furthermore it is known.
for instance, that monsters exactly CORE
spending with the descriptions of the sea-
serpent by people who claim to have seen
it existed in past ages. In the museum OF
Yale College are the skeletons of many
of these creatures, dug out of rocks and
from the beds of dried-up seas, where they
had repOsed for ages.
PETRIFIED POINTERS.
Biologists all know that certain strata
are almost certain to disclose the skeletons /
Of great sea monsters, hundreds OF feet IL
length which in far remote ages swan tie i
oceans Of the world and bred numerously.
The vertebrae the ribs, the skull, the
laws of these sea serpents of a bygone 1
age are as well known to scientists as the
bones of the negatharium and the mastodon.
Coming upon such bones or traces Of them
in rock formation, the scientist CLASHES /
them instantly, knowing that they are the
remains Of the sea serpent.
AN ANTEDILUVIAN EXAMPLE.
One of these antediluvian sea serpents
had a neck at least fifty feet long, according
to the scientists of the British Museum,
where the skeleton of such a specimen is
to be seen. 1t had a large head, with I'M
mense eyes, and it swan through the water
something like a giant snake.
Judging from the records on the subject
the sea serpent was more plentiful a cen
fury ago than he is to-day. For instance:
Captain Laurence de Ferry made oath be
fore a magistrate in 1746 that he had chased
a sea serpent with crew or sailors IN a
rowboat but that the monster escaped. The
captain described the creature as form1d-
able specimen fully 500 feet long, whose
coils above water looked like a row OF hogs
heads. 1t had the head of a horse, with
sort Of name, and it was gray or brown in
color.
Eleazer Crabtree, "a man of unimpeaeh-
7Dle Neracltys VINO dWelI Oh I OK 4s4a4uS
n Penobscot Bay, in 177s. said he saw a
sea serpent 500 feet long. His description
was very much like that of Captain de
Ferry's, and the monster he saw had large
black mouth The same Crabtree saw
another sea serpent near Mount Desert in
1898.
AN OFFICIAL SERPENT.
The adventure Of Commodore Preble, o.
5. N, when he gave chase to a sea serpent
.ook place in 1779 He was then a mid
shipmAn, and when the sea serpent was
sighted from the deck Of the sloop of war
le was placed in command of a boat man
ned by twelve seamen and sent in pursuit.
The monster is said to have been 100 feet
ong and possessed Of a large head. Its
notion was so rapid that it could not be
officers and men for over an hour.
Captain Little, U. s.. N. swore that while
n Penobscot Bay, in 1880, on board of a