The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-12
MEN AND AXES ITS FOOD
THE WONDERFUL SERPENT THAT
 LIVES IN CHAIN LAKES.

l No ohe Shu Aeh why AL oWAio"9 "'h
 Axes With Stout Eelves, Unless There
 Are No Stones In the Lake to Furnish
 Grinders for It's GIzzard.
 Kossuth, Me, Dec. S0.-To an out slider who is not familiar with the sto-
 ry, the pride which the citizens of
 Washington county exhibit when they
 are telling about the great sea serpent | which dWells in Chain Lakes seems an
 unwarranted presumption, indicating that the residents are unacquainted
 with the natural history of these rep l tiles Though not more than one citi-
 zen in a thousand ever saw the ser
 pent, and though not one-half of these
 favored few ever lived to describe the
 creature, there is hardly a person in
 the county who has any doubt about
 this subject which is available for use
 is practically unanimous in stating
 that such a snake does exist, that 1t is
 from forty to fifty feet long and that it
 is as big around as a barrel. Outside
 of these visible facts which dozen
 reputable witnesses are willing to
 swear to, the people have frequently
 heard strange sounds upon Chain
 Lakes that no other living thing but a
 big snake could make, and have seen
 the great muddy wallows along it's shores indented and grooved with tor
 turous impressions such as snake as
 large as pine log would naturally
 make if he should escape from the wa
 ter and get mired.
 If Chain Lakes were a place of sum-
 mer resort for wealthy persons from
 Boston or New York or if anybody
 along the shores conducted sporting
 camps or hotels where homemade
 whiskey was sold, this story could be passed over without further comment;
 but the territory in that vicinity is a
 continuous bog for three townships, where nothing but black flies and mo- squitoes care to dwell in the summer season and where the snake exerts
 such a powerful sway during the win ter months that casual visitors who
 drop down that way make haste to get
 out by the next stage AS all the wit nesses agree upon the main features, and as the snake was not placed in those isolated waters for advertising
 purposes, the practical residents argue |. that the terror of the swamps is an
 actual creature of flesh and blood. In
 support of this hypothesis they relate several tales of adventure all of which
 differ widely from anything which has been said or written about any of the | ,>,<N t1,rr tbot ,lIn ,ln1A [ the salt waters off the New England coast
 The native Passamaquoddy Indians knew more about the Chain Lakes ser pent than they cared to tell, years be- fore a white man went into the woods , looking for beaver skins. Members of
 the tribe who had stolen goods or , cheated or committed an unprovoked d assault which ended in murder were always taken to Chain Lakes about New Years and left to their fate. As l none of these outcasts ever returned to the camp-tires of the tribe it was in. l ferred that the snake had faithfully , performed his part of the contract. In , addition to the malefactors who were , carried to the lakes against their will
 a few Passamaquoddy fishermen went
 
 7 joy pickerei fishing. The lakes. being surrounded by interminable swamps I never froze over entirely, but were fui l of blowholes where the muskrats came - out and stunned themselves, and where = the fishermen could drop their lines among great schools of pickerel with g out going to the trouble of cutting
 through the ice. Though the Indians ' who fished here invariably made great s catches of pckerel, the big snake al ways made a counter assessment, talk 9 ing an Indian or two every week as t chance or hunger prompted, until tht T survivors were glad to make a hurried { retreat.
 Of the tragedies in which the pale s fated suuatters were the sufferers more than score of tales are told by tht 0 old settlers Most of these stories datt 7 back to twenty years ago, so that the : l persons who knew the victims art e nearly all dead, and particulars art t either vague or hard to obtain. There = are two cases, however, that have come . to light within the last four years il : which the alleged victims were vel c known to persons now living and con @ corning which there arose many pecu d liar details that to discredit the stories = would be equivalent to giving the Ii, h direct to some of the best citizens il L. the county. In February, 1894, Hamil
 ton Wass of Kossuth went to Chair v Lakes swamp to cut hoop poles, taking
 a horse and a hired man with him tt
 help about the work The first Sunda, y after reaching camp the horse wa
 turned loose to browse about tn l shores, and, failing to come up a , nishtfall, the two men started out t a hunt it up. Wass following the ani . maPs tracks on the snow, and McGreg . or the hired man, going to the head 0 the lakes and coming down on the ice t For a mile Wass tracked the hors . among the underbrush. Then i a turned on to the ice and went twent. rods to an open blowhole, beyon'
 which there was no track of any kind Believing his horse had fallen througl
 the hole and drawned, Wass returne, e to camp. An hour later McGrego e came in, bringing such tale as no so = Der man who wishes to be credite t horses steps to the hole, and while h = stood over it. running long pole int t the opening, fearful creature ha = arisen from the water and protrude | it's head through the ice until it wa