The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-02
ITS DEPTHS UNFATHOMED
A Long Island Pool That Has
Claimed Many Victims.
Secret of the Death Clutch OF Its
Waters EnthrnIIed 81 Tribe of Rcd
let Into the Sound Was Discov-
cred - Captive Turtles Voyage.

Men-hoW OHe subterranenn out-
let Into the sound Was Discov-
cred - Captive Turtles voyage.
To say that lake or pond is bottom
less seems absurd Any person who knows
anything of natural philosophy would tell
you that every ocean, lake, sea, river, or
stream must have a bottom somewhere,
though IL may be ever so far down. How
ever, there is little lake on Long Island
about two miles distant from Great Neck,
and called Success Lake, that is actually
without bottom. This is not an unnatural
phenomenon nor is there anything of mys-
terry in it. What should be the bottom Of
this lake is a subterraneous outlet that
drains off the surplus water, carrying 1t
through small underground river that
empties into Long Island Sound between
/ DouglestJn and Little Neck, about five
| miles from its source.
! For many generations Success Lake.
= which is about a half mile wide, win
! deeply wooded shores and sandy beach
| all around, has been renowned for miles
! around. 1t numbers its victims by the
| score and many strange and romantic
|
gained such a name around that only
, strangers, and they, despite the many
warnings that are given them by those
! who live near its banks and know its long
/, history of the many who have gone down,
, and dead or alive never been seen again,
ever venture to battle within its waters.
/ Only two weeks ago two men went out in
, a boat TO fish near the centre Of the lake.
! One of them went in swimming. and nov
| no Is under
waters. The water Looked so fresh and
| cool that he thought he would take a
| SWIM and, stripping, he dived in. He
| was a splendid swimmer, but he only got
| few rods from the boat before he threw
/ up his hands and without cry went
under. His body has never been recovered.
| This same thing has happened year after
/ year, with the result that there is local
superstition deeply seated in the minds OF
/ the old residents Whereabouts that Success
Lake is not only bottonlless, but that there
is some strange, weird creature living
within it that is ever on the lookout for
a victim.
The history OF Success Lake dates back
! to the first settlement of the red man On
! Long Island. Though there are now no
visible traces of these first settlers, and
an ugly roadhouse has its foundation on
ground that was once covered with the
I tents of a great tribe. there are still
number of old settlers descendants who
can recite the history of this lake from
| the time man first set his foot on its
| shores down to the present day. There are
i families in the village of Lakeville who
| still preserve as cherished heirlooms ar
rowheads tomahawks, and other Indian
relics which their forefathers found on the
| shores of the little lake. Quite recently
| several arrowheads, the remnants of a
| horn necklace, and other of the parapher-
malta of buried warrior were found on
| the banks of Success Lake. and further in
yestigation revealed tt fact of an extern
sive Indian burying ground.
Traditions of Lake Success.
Many centuries ago. tradition tells US.
a large tribe of Indians pitched its tents
on the banks OF this lake. Fed by in
Vulnerable springs. the water was always
fresh and cool, and when there was no
! breeze to wrinkle its surface the warrior
had a fine mirror to aid him in adjusting
his war paint and the Indian maiden could
see how to improve her dusky beauty
/ against the coming of the lord of her
| heart. Then the hunting was of the finest
and many fishes filled the deep, blue
| black waters, or. If fish of the salt sea
| was preferred, the Sound lay but an ar
rows flight to the westward, and south
Ndru II was Dull NAH Il udy 10
| the Father of Waters.
These Indians, who were the iirst of
mankind to come upon this little lake and
pitch their tents and live upon its banks,
| were known as the Scouts. an ancient and
almost forgotten branch of the Mohawks
| They gave their name TO this little body
of water and up to few generations ago
II was known far and wide as Scout Lake.
II was not only its physical advantages
IN, -, y -, fho~
strange mystery in its deep black waters.
Then more than one 1.-THE young redskin
| had attempted to swim from shore to
! shore barely gone half way, when, with
a last whoop. the brown arms went up
above the sleek black head and the tribe
saw his face no more. There is no Iace
more romantic than the American Indian
and their love OF mystery is akin to their
| love of natures wildness. There was
nothing uncanny or weird in the deep
mysteries EMBODIED in their little lakes
| shining waters. They looked into the in
finity OF its depths as they looked into
| the infnity of the skies and thought of
! the Great Spirit unseen. Many genera
| tions of Scouts worshiped at it's shores
and many a red man was lowered in his
! last sleep into the silent waters. The
| fame of the bottomless lake spread
| through many forests and across many
| streams and rivers and long and bloody
battles were fought by the Scouts to main
| tain it's possession.
Reduced in strength by constant warfare
| and disguised at the white mans lack of
reverence for their wild green world, the
| Scouts left the little lake and went west
ward soon to be merged in some larger
| and more powerful tribe. After the Rev
olution a small party of Tories who found
the lovers Of liberty in New York a little
| TOO demonstrative in their views, moved
their families and all that was left to them
| of their coniscated possessions over to
Long Island and settled on the shores OF
| Scout Lake.
| few of the old men Of the tribe that
had gone toward the land Of the setting
sun were left behind to die and be laid
| at rest where so MANY of their forefathers
/ slept From these ancient warriors the
| little band of settlers soon learned all the
mysteries of the lake and grew 10 look upon
1t with superstitious awe. The younger
generation was forbid under pain of dras-
tic punishment, ever to battle in the
waters of the lake 1t was then that the
| first of the white race was ever drowned
in these waters and shortly afterward that
IL was discovered that there was an under
| ground outlet.
| While their parents were occupied in the
little clearings they had made near the
| borders OF the lake, three young boys en-
| gagged in a swimming contest on the lake.
| They proceeded safely and swiftly with
| quick. short strokes until they had got
| half way across the lake. Then almost
| simultaneously they threw up their hands
and disappeared, leaving nothing but
succession of tiny bubbles that drove
slender ripples in parAbolic curves to