The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-10-28

The Glasgow Philosophical Society
took up Miss Mackays published let
ter, and, after discussing it, applied to
her fatle' for confirmation of what she
had stated and to know ifhe could give
any further particulars: to which he
| replied that to the best OF his knowl-
edge and belief the mermaid as de-
scribed had been seen by members of
his family.
In 1911 4 mermaid Was seen at Kin
tyre. on the coast of Scotland. and
those who witnessed its movements
thought pr 'rrr to make affidavit. of
what had come under observation. In
some respects their account is UNIQUE
The upper part Of the creature had all
| of the characteristics of Il well formed
and well grown mermaid. but the scaly
| tail. of brindled or reddish gray color.
wldened out at the extremity into the
form of fan. twelve or fourteen inches
i'll width, which kept up tremulous
motion save and except when folded
up, and then it remained qucscent. but
for Il short time Its long and abund-
ant hair claimed much o. its attention,
and after aw.Ii.r i =, Il :. Niv IL was
lost to sight. On the same coast. in
1921, Il young man was attracted to 4
cavern by Il Screeching noise. and on
looking i'll was startled at the sight of
a number Of figures staring at him from
the water-ligures halt fish half human,
with large, beaming eyes. streaming
hair and long and slend,r arms and
hands. At him they stared. but only
for moment, and then disappeared
The following day he discovered five
mermaids, old and young, in the same
place: the adults sleeping on tue rocks
and the young playing in the water.
Mermaids do not appear to have IA
vored the American coast, yet one
would suppose that they would have
found the gulf stream 4 delightful place
for their gambols. OF Il mermaid that
was once discovered in the harbor of
st. John. Newfoundland. we have an
entertaining account. 1t was seen by
Capt Richard Whitbourne. who de-
scribcd it in his book of voyages. Il
pamphlet published in London in 1922.
The captain was standing 10y the river
side when it came swiftly by swimming
toward him and looked chccrfully up
i'll his face. 1T was like 4 woman by
the face, eyes, nose, mouth. chin, arms,
neck aud forehead and in those parts
rs well proportioned. Round its head
it had many blue strcaks, resembling
hair, but certainly it was not hair"
As it approached the captain drew
back, for fear that it might spring upon
him, which he thought was its inten-
tion. whercupol it turned and swain
away, looking back as it did so, and
then he had an opportunity to see its
back, which was las square, white and
smooth as the back of Il man, and from
the middle to the hinder part it was
pointing, in proportion somewhat like
a broad-headed arrow
Captain Whitbournc' 5 mermaid, find
ing that she could not lure him. swan
away to boat i'll which there were I
number of men, one of whom, William
Hawk kbridge, the captains servant,
who atterward became mast l. of an
Indanman, said the mermaid put both
its hands upon the boat and did strive
much to come in to him and divers
others in the boat. whcreat they were
afraid, and one of them struck it blow
en- the head, whereby it fell off from
tho IN and came to two other boats in
the harbor" The mermaid was not
captured and Of course there was no
opportunity to inspect it closely, and
| cannot find that any other living
specimen was ever seen on this side of
the Atlantic.