Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-12-12

cries Of alarm: next came some rabbits
and coyotes. and soon three deer came
running at full speed; last of all: an old
bear with one cub came along. All passed
close to me, not seeming to notice me,
and all running at their best,
All this did not occupy much time. and
! began TO wonder what was up. My dog
kept looking up the canon and was evil
IDENTIFY alarmed, ard | began to feel shaky
myself. All at once the dog set up, a
howl and started for home, eight miles
away, running as fast as a dog can run.
and going under the cabin stayed there
two days and nights. and no amount of
coaXing could get him TO come out sooner,
and never after would the dog go in the
direction of the lake. l began to feel that
some unknown danger was near, and look
ing about me saw a spruce tree with very
thick limbs standing near a very large
pine. i climbed up about sixty feet from
the ground and began 10 look up the can
on. L had not long to wait. i heard a
sound as If the dead limbs of trees, will
lows and alders that grew in the canon,
were being broken and crushed. Soon a
monster appeared, slowly making his way
in the direction where 1 was hidden in
the tree-top, and passed on to the a k
within fifty feet of where l was, and as
recovered from my fright. / began to look
him over and TO estimate his immense
size. After his head had passed my tree
about seventy feet he halted and reared
in the air fifty feet or more and 1 was
thankful that the large pine hid me from
his sight. and l dared to breathe again as
le lHS utdu ~ tDe SIohllu dIlu
moved on.
His monstrous head was about fourteen
feet wide, and the large eyes seemed to
be about eight inches in diameter, and
shining jet black. and seemed to project
more than half their size from the head.
The neck was about ten feet thick, and
the body in the largest portion must have
been twenty feet in diameter. / had a
chance to measure his length, for when
he halted his tail reached a fallen tree,
and / afterward measured the distance
from the tree where j was hidden to the
fallen tree and 1t measured $40 feet. and
as seventy or eighty feet had passed me,
II made his length about 600 feet. The
reddish yellow on the side and belly, and
must have been very hard and tough, as
small trees two and three inches in di-
ameter were crushed and broken without
any effect on his tough side. Even boul-
ders of 500 or 600 pounds weight lying on
the surface of the ground were pushed
out of the way. His snakeship slowly
made his way to the lake, giided in and
swan toward the foot.
This serpent has been seen by several
of the old settlers at the lake since that
time, but il was generally agreed that it
would be useless to tell the world the
story. knowing that II would not be be-
lieyed. ] Will give a few names of the
ship at different times since / first saw
him. William Pomin. now living in San
Francisco: John Mckinney. Ben Mccoy
and Bill McMasters, all at that time living
living in Sacramento: Captain Rowland of
the old steamer Governor Blaisdell. Tony
and Burk. fishermen living near Fridays
station: RUDE SaXton. now at the lake.
and several others could be named.
/ know many will doubt the story, but
sooner or later his snakeship will be seen
by so many that all doubt will be re-
moved. l. c. CoGGIN.