The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-02

as lightning he seized a tomahaWk that
| lay at the bottom of the boat and with
two swift strokes severed the arms that
| lay on the gunwale of the boat. The
| great Shiny mass glided OFF and elected
| couple of gallon of an inky, n-smelliag
| iuid that darkened the water for many
| yards around. This is the hab of nj
| he squid family when fear is awakened
| and they want 20 escape from their foes
| under the dark cloud of their own cre1-
| lion. The men rowed homeWard for their
lives, fearing another attack from the
| monster, but he had got enough of it. The
| little hero dragged the Two arms into tine
| boat and brought them with him as tro-
phies. Unfortunately, being ignorant of
| its value, he threw down the larger arm
at the door of his cottage, where some
| hungry dogs or pigs speedily deVOured It.
Happily he took the long tentacle inside,
| and the clergyman of the village advised
| him to bring it to me, S l had the repu-
| tation of being q hunter after curiosites
of all kinds, especially queer fishes.
For a time l lived in the hope that the
mutilated monster might die of his
wounds and be cast ashore, and that /
might become heir to his remains; but il
was not SO to be- Probably he retired
| into private life in the depths Of the ocean,
| there TO grow another pair of arms-a
power which these animals possess. 1t
must have been an enormous size. The
men declared it was sixty feet in length,
and that the thinner arm, where il was
| chopped off left ten or twelve feet alta h
ed TO the body, so that it must have been
over thirty feet in length. The clergy
man of the village saw the larger arm be
| fore it was destroyed, and told me ii wa
eight feet long, and at the point where it
was attached to the central mass, eighteen
inches in circumference. Surprising the
body to have been twelve or fifteen feet in
| length and the whole ten arms with the
long tentacles trailing behind, the mems
estimate of sixty feet was not so far out
of the way The head they declared TO
| be "as large as six-gallon keg.' Allow
ance, however, must be made for the ter
ror into which they were thrown.
Destiny, however, had something better
in store for me than the acquisition OF the
tentacle Only three weeks after the
event described a message reached me
which thrw me into a perfect fever of eX-
element Another devil fish, had been
brought ashore in a perfect condition at
placed called Logic bay, and l found that
il had been captured the day before IN a
most remarkable manner. Four fisher
men were engaged in hauling in their her
ring net. which they found to be unusual
" heavy When il came near the boat
they were startled to find that some living
thing was struggling violently in their net
and threatening to burst or carry 1t OF.
All their efforts were required TO hold 1t;
and to save lNGlI Llt-t OuC VI tAfii Hdi99Nt
his sharp splitting knife round the central
mass and cut off it's head In doing so,
unfortunately the eyes were destroyed,
leaving eve sockets four inches in dame
Ter But no other injury was done. Not
even sucker was destroyed. And now
for a few dollars 1 had the unspeakable
satisfaction of becoming the happy pos
SCISSOR of a complete specimen of the Sean
dinavian kraken, alias giant cephalopode,
which not a savant or museum in all the
world possessed.
NV first care was to have photographs
| taken of my prize, being wen aware that
hut a very limited amount of credence
would be accorded to any description l
might draw up without a picture of the
animal itself. A photograph could not lie
and would silence the gansayers The
head or central mass, from which the ten
arms radiated, having the powerful horny
| healx in a fieshy bag in the middle and
the rows of suckers like pearls along the
arms. made a splendid and very striking
| photograph The body and tail made an
/ other excellent picture.
Then l proceeded to make a study of the
various organs and to take their meas
uren1ents accurately. Had this not been
a labor of love the handling of the shiny,
| homeless. repulsive corpse, for hours a
/ time might have overcome my sensible
ties | found the body TO be eight feet in
! length and six feet in circumference al
| the thickeSt part. II terminated III nm
| shaped tail. Eight of the arms were each
over six feet in length, and at the point
of junction with the central mass were
twelve inches in diameter, the under sur
| face being entirely covered with a double
row of sucking disks, all denticulated.
Each arm tapered to a tongue-like point,
| and carried about 100 suckers, great and
small. The long tentacles were each TWEEN
! tv-four feet in length, tough and plant
| as leather. entirely caTtiaginous and very
strong They were four inches in crcum-
! ference, except at the extremity, which
| hroad ened to six inches. and then tapered
10 a very fine point There were no suck
ers on the tentacles except at the broad
ened extremity, which carried each about
| seventy. Altogether | calculate that there
were about l. 100 suckers on the ten arms.
! The color of the animal was a pale pink.
! When laid out along the floor il measured
| from the extremity of the tail TO the tips
of the tentacles thirty-two feet. Between
! the tips of the two tentacles, where ex-
| tended from each side of the central mass
three feet in breadth, the distance was
81 feet Victor Hugo's celebrated
poulple or devil fish, which, in his Toll
| ers Of the Sea" he represents as five feet
| between the extremties of its extendd
arms. was a mere infant compared with,
| my giant, So greatly al times does fact
/ surpass fiction.
The appearance of the creature as 1t lay
! in state for few days in an outbulding
was very extraordinary, and crowds came
| to see and shudder over It, When one
! thought how terrible the embrace OF such
| a monster must be- and tried to picture
! the whole ten arms twining themselves
| round some victim, wrapping him around
| in their clammy folds with inconceivabe
! rapidity, and the 200 suckers at once
| sinking into the flesh and seeming to drink
the very blood while paralyzed by the
| corpse-like touch, and then the glaring
| ferocious eyes and the great parrot-like
| beak leaping from it's sheath to rend and
destroy; who would not pray 10 be saved
| from such an awful death? The hug Of