The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-14
A DOWN EAST LEGEND
Strange Disappearance of a
FrenGhman

A Bangor man heard the following
strange story other day from an
old-time lumberman and has given it
to the Wing for the interest of it's
readers, says the Bangor Wing and
Courier:
AS 1 sat in my Office listening to one
OF the Woodsmen of the old school, he
told in his discordant, high pitched
voice dhe voice of one who had not
heard distinctly for years. the wonder
fui stories of the hardships and mar
Fels OF our Maine woods before the civil
war.
he talked as one who knew personally
all the men in our vicinity who have in
years past amassed fortunes out of our
magnificent forests, and he told in de-
tail how supplies were furnished the
camps In the very heart of the wilder
ness, how he carried by batteaux a
great weight of chain and other neces-'
stiles from the west branch up through
Square and Eagle lakes and into the
81. John river to the mills at Grand
Falls, where the st. John drops So feet.
He told of the wonderful carry along
the sides of the canon of Rlpogenus,
where The water races through with
such force that only few of the best
OF them can boast of going through it
on anything but q log raft. Then after
p1llng wonder on wonder, he came
nearer home, and told us the follow
ing
You fellows know, probably, if you
know anything about old Bangor. that
she was started up by the old Red
Bridge, this side of Mount Hope. Well,
they had an old water wheel mill up
there on that stream. At the side Of
this mill, while the refuse and slabs
n ClT i
was large boulder which must have
weighed some three or four tons. The
man VINO tended this chute was a
French Canadian (Cannuck, we called
HIND VINO could swear little.
We'll, this boulder was plumb in his
way, always seemed to do it on purpose.
He was prying one day on lot of slabs
that We're damned under and around
the boulder, and got so mad that he
ripped out, If We diable will take this
rock, me- with it he can have, too!'
We'll boys, do you know that night
there was an awful thunder shower,
and the next morning that rock was uu
on the side of the road and in its sides
were the prints of hands, great big
hands about four times as large as a
mans, and they could see the tracks
in the ledge of gigantic feet, well ma
ted to the hands. They followed these
everywhere the solid ledge appeared
there would be prints of those feet I'M
til they lost track of them somewhere
above Neazie. The Frenehman was
never seen or heard of again.
Nov. if you don't believe it, and I
don't ask you to, just go up to Red
Bridge and see them for yourself The
big rock has been broken up and you
will FIND parts of it with the prints of
the hands still on it, in the pier of the
bridge, and if you follow the shore you
will find the foot tracks. They are
about i've feet apart and you can see
where the devil jumped from rise to
rise and slipped in places.
In going from the Red Bridge the
track leads up the stream and you can
find some of it on the island in Kim
Woods meadow, just off the Niben
club path
With great reverence I gave the old
fellow q cigar and asked him to come
again. When I could 1 started for the
tracks and found some of them. They
are There. Go look at them, and in look
ing moralize.