The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-24

of the killing Of two great sea serpents-
a male and a female-one forty-eight feet
long and the other measuring thirty-nfne
feet, by intrepid fishermen of the Japan
ese coast. Often mariners have told Of
sighting sea serpents, and their stories
have been considered a test Of credulity
but it remained for fishermen of the
Kochi prefecture of, Japan to prove to
the world that the deep really had such
strange deniZens. The remains OF the
ocean monsters were sent to Osaka, Japan,
where they: arrived on Aug. 80 and were
placed on exhibition. In the carcass OF
one of the sea serpents was found the
remains Of human being, mute evidence
that some unknown person had fallen VIC
tim to the serpents of the sea.
The capturers of the sea serpents live
in the Japanese fishing village Of Saga
Muri, and were engaged in catching burr
for the markets in the coast ports, when
their nets became fouled. Some strange
and heavy object which fought hard for
liberty, had seemingly been entangled in
the meshes of the burr nets. The fisher
m r15endea vore1 to=pulr the nets shoreWard
with all their might and main, the crews
of numerous small fishing schooners be-
ing called to assist. Suddenly a sea SER
pent of monstrous size raised It's head
above the water and beloved. The noise
was strange and weird, and the fishermen
were greatly frightened. Many dropped
the lines of the net and rowed hurriedly
away, but through the efforts OF some
of the Drawer ones, the fishermen were
induced to give their united aid to the
work of dragging the nets shOreWard.
Beloved with Rage.
The sea serpent beloved with rage as
1t vainly struggled in the meshes Of the
nets. It's big eyes, with the whites glar-
ing, were enough to brighten the bravest
of men. It continued to bite at the net
with it's fangs, roar continuously, and,
with a side movement Of the great head,
it struck at the net with a horn on its
forehead, which was afterwards found
to be two feet two inches in length.
Unable to move the net shoreward, de-
spite their united efforts. the fishermen
hurried to their several schooners for guns
and rifles, and rowing as close as they
could with safety, to the struggling sea
serpent fast in their nets, the japanese
poured their bullets into the monster. AS
they continued firing, the sea serpent
dashed the water with it's body until the
sea ran like a mill stream, and some OF
the small boats were capsized, and their
occupants had a struggle to escape drown
ing. The sea was soon Redeemed with
blood from the wounds of the monster, as
the fusilade was continued by the fisher
men, and soon the struggles perceptibl1
weakened, and then the great head sank
down. The sea serpent was dead.
Monster No. 2.
Shortly after the sea serpent had beer
killed, another serpent-apparently thu
| female companion of the Other-cam'
! da shing through the waves towards thu
| Japanese. The serpent, which was seem
ingly enraged by the slaughter Of It's com
panion, dashed towards the boats of thu
e. >S,,<
to their schooners, from which they con
tinued to pour fusilade from their rifle
and guns at the monster as it dashed t.
and fro near the vessels. The second ser
pent was similar in appearance to tn
first, the head alone of which had BEEF
seen before death. The second serpen
had it's body arched as it swan about
and offered a better target for the guns
The Japanese kept up their bombardme
until they had also killed the second ser
pent
Human Body Found.
Lines were secured to both of the mon
sters and the fishermen towed their car
casses ashore. The people Of Saga MUIR
hurried to the scene in throngs and grea
excitement prevailed. The carcasses wer
measured and the male was found to b
forty eight feet long, while the femal
was thirty-nine feet in length. When tn
bodies were cut open, what proved to b
the remains of human being, evidentl
swallowed by the serpent. were found Il
| the remains Of the female. .--.-4 -.
| Osaka papers say it is believed that tn
serpents were carried to the ,Tosa sea b.
the Kuroshio, which appears to hav
lessened their movement, while som
Of the Japanese native papers expires
their opinion that the recent submarin
disturbances off the coast Of Japan, tn
worst Of which involved the destructio
of one of the BONN islands, with all it
people, resulted in bringing the monster
from the ocean depths. The flesh wa
removed from the carcasses of the Sc
serpents and it was sailed and taken t
Osaka. The carcasses We're purchase
from the fishermen by an Osaka showma
who is having the bones mounted. and ex
pert taxidermists are endeavoring to re
construct the sea monsters. The head
of the two serpents-the Japanese paper
report-weighed 800 ''kwamnle.' The
have forty-four fangs each, the longes
of which was seven inches. They ais
have ears about two feet long and hor
on the forehead The Snowman VIII
bought the carcasses purposes to tax
them to Toxic for the inspection of tn
Japanese emperor, who has expressed
desire to see them.