Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-12-07
A DOWN EAST LEGEND.
Strange Disappearance of a French.
man, as Told by an Old
| Timer.
from the Bangor Wing and Courier.

From the Bangor Wing and Courier.
A Bangor man heard the following
time Zimmerman and has given it to the
Wing for the interest of its readers:
As l sat in my office listening to one
| of the woodsmen of the old school, he
| Che voice of one who had not heard dis
tinctly for years. the wonderful stories
of the hardships and marvels of our
Maine woods before the civil war.
! He talked one who knew personally
| all the men in our vicinity who have in
years past amassed fortunes out of our
how supplies were furnished the camps
| in the very. heart of the wilderness, how
he carried by batteaux great weight of
| chain and other necessities from the west
branch up through Square and Eagle
lakes and into the st. John river to the
| mills at Grand Falls. where the st. John
drops lightweight feet. He told of the WON
derful carry along the sides of the canon of
Ripogenus, where the water races through
with such force that only a few of the
best of them can boast of going through
it on anything but log raft. Then, after
piling wonder on wonder, he came nearer
home. and told us the following:
anslbT knSW probably if
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 from the
saw came down their chute, VIZ, a large
boulder Wnlcn must nave Weig ed some
three or four tons. The man who tended
this. chute was a French Canadian Can
muck. we called him) who could swear
little.
Well. this boulder was plumb in his
way, always seemed to do it on purpose.
He was prying one day on lot of slabs
That were damned under and around the
pouider' and got so mad that he ripped
out: II We dable will take this rock, me
with IT he can have, too
wei. boys, do you know that night
there was an awful thunder shower and
the next morning that rock was up on
the side OF the road and in its sides were
the prints OF hands, great big hands
about four times as large as mans, and
they could see the tracks in the ledge of
gigantic feet, well mated to the hands
They followed these tracks back UP the
penobscot, and everywhere the solid
ledge appeared there would be prints of
| those feet until they lost track of them
somewhere above Veazie The French
man was never seen or heard of again.
NOW, II you don't believe it, and l 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 or 1t, in the pier of the bridge and if
you follow the shore you will find the
foot tracks. They are about five 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 1t on the island in Kim
Woods meadow, just off the Niben club
path"
low cigar and asked him to come again
When 1 could l started for the tracks
and found some Of them. They are there
Go look at them. and in looking. moralize.