The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-26
MONSTER KILLED IN FLORIDA.
Hunter in the Everglades Stays Big
Reptile Formerly Thought to be a
Creature of Indian Imagination.

Hunter I'm the Everglades Stays Big
Reptile Formerly Thought to be n
Creature of Indian Imagination.
From the New York Times.
Jacksonville, Fla, Nov. 3O.-An enor-
nous reptile. more like the extinct
brontosaurus or tabled sea serpent
than any living creature, has just been
killed by hunter in the lower Ever
glades. He means to send the skele-
ton to the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington.
1t has for 100 years not only been a
tradition among the Seminole Indians,
who inhabited the borders of Lake
Okeechobee, but it is stated as a fact
within the knowledge of some of the
Indians now living that an immense
serpent made it's home in the Ever
glades and has carried off at least two
Indians.
The Indians reported the animal to
be snakelike in appearance, with ears
like deer; that it had only been seen
in the Everglades, and that it was very
wild. They said that when it trav~
eled it frequently stopped, raised it's
head high above the sawgrass to take
view of its surroundings. to discover
enemies or locate victims, a deer, bear,
hog, or some other animal. If fright
ened, the Indians asserted that 1t glid-
ed off at immense speed
These stories have kept the venture
some hunter and trapper on his guard
and in state of more or less anxiety,
Notwithstanding they did not give
credence to these Indian stories. Re-
Gently Buster Ferrel, one of the bold
est and most noted of the hunters of
Okeechobee. who for twenty years has
made the border of the lake and the
Everglades his home, on one of his
periodical expeditions, noted what he
supposed to be the pathway of an i'm
mense alligator.
For several days he visited the local
ity with the hope of killing the sau-
rian, but was unsuccessful in finding
him. His pride as a hunter was piqued,
and his desire to obtain the hide of
what he felt sure to be one of the larg-
est alligators ever seen in this Sec
tion, where alligators are noted for
their immense size, grew daily. He
studied some plan to outwit it, A
large cypress stood near it's pathway,
and he concluded to climb the tree and
take a>Stand for his game. He accord
ingly took his position in the tree. For
two days he stood on watch with his
rife ready. Nothing appeared. He was
becoming discouraged, but determined
to give one more day to the effort.
On the third day, before he had been
on his perch an hour, he saw what
looked to him like an immense serpent
gliding along the supposed alligator
track. He estimated it to be any
where from twenty-five to thirty feet
long and fully ten to twelve inches in
diameter where the head joined the
body and as large around as barrel
ten feet further back. The creature
stopped within easy range of his gun
and raised high it's head. AS it did
Ferrel shot at it's head. Taken by sur
prise the serpent dashed into the
marsh at tremendous speed, while
Ferrel kept up firing until he had
emptied the magazine of his rifle.
About four days afterward he ven
tured back into the neighborhood, and
about a mile from where he first saw
the monster he saw a large flock of
buzzards, and went to see what they
were after, and there he found the
creature dead and its body so badly
torn by the buzzards that it was inn
possible to save the skin.
He, however, secured the head, and
has it now in his home on the Kissim-
NEE river 1t is truly a frightful look
ing object, fully ten inches from jaw
to jaw, and ugly, razor-like teeth. He
described the animal as dark colored
on it's back and dingy white beneath,
with feelers around it's mouth similar
to catfish.
He has gone back into the swamp
with the intention of obtaining the
skeleton and bringing it back, after
which he will send it to the Smithson-
ian Institution in Washington.