The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1902-02-20
STRANGE MONSTER. IN FLORIDA.
Reptile Formerly Thought 90 BE Sfea-
ture of Indian IulaE nation.


II ture of Indian Imagination.
An enormous reptile, more like The
extinct brontosaurus, OF tabled sea-
serpent than any living creature has
| just been killed by hunter IN the
lower Florida Everglades. he means
to send the skeleton to the Smithson-
ian instlution at washington.
1t has for 100 years not only ceen
tradition among the Seminole IN
dams who inhabiated the borders OF
Lake Olieechobee, but it is stated as a
! fact wi.nin the knowledge OF some
! OF the Indians now living that an I'M
mense serpent made its home Ill the
| Everglades and has carried OFF at least
| two Indians.
| The Indians reported the animal TO-
be snakelike in appearance, with ears
| like a deer; that it had only been seen
| in the Everglades, and that it was very
wild. They said that when It tEaV-
oled it frequently stopped, raised IT'S
| head high above the sawgrass TO take
view Of its surroundings to discover
enemies or to locate victims, deer
| bear. hog or some other animal IL
| frightened, the Indians asserted that
| it glded off at immense speed.
These stories have kept the venture
some hunter and trapper Oh his guard
and in a state of more or less ankle
ty, 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 20 years has made
the border of the lake and the Ever
glades his home on one of his period1--
cal expeditions noted what he sup
posed to be the pathway Of. an I'M
mense alligator.
For several days he visited the To-
cality with the hope of killing the
saurian, but was unsuccessful in find
ing him. His pride as hunter was,
piqued, and his desire to obtain the
hide of what he felt sure to be one or
the largest alligators ever seen IN this
section, where alligators are noted Tor
their immense size, grew daily. He
studied some plan to outwit 1t. A large
! cypress stood near it's pathway, and he
concluded to climb the tree and take
stand for his game. He accordingly
took his position in the tree For two
days he stood on watch with his rife
ready. Nothing appeared. He was be-
coming discouraged. but determined to
give one more day to the effort
| On the third day, before ne HAD been
on his perch an hour, he saw. what
looked to him like an immense SER
pent gliding along the supposed, ALI q
gator track. He estimated it to De
anywhere from rs to 80 feet long and
fully 10 20 IL inches in diameter where
the head joined the body and as large
around as a barrel 10 feet further
back The creature stopped within.
easy range of his gun and raised high
| it's head. AS it did Ferrel shot at its
head. Taken by surprise the serpent
| dashed into the marsh at tremendous
speed while Ferrel kept up firing until
rifle. j
I About four days afterward he ven-
| tured back into the neighbOrhood andk
about a mile from where he first~saT
the monster he saw large flock d
buzzards, and went to see what they
were after, and there he found the3
creature dead, and it's body so badly
torn by the buzzards that it was i'm
! 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 frightful look-j
| ing object, fully 10 inches from jawjI
to jaw. and ugly, razor-like teeth. Hel
described the animal as dark colored
en- its back and a dingy white be-
meath. 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 il back. after
which he will send it to the SmitEson-
ian institution in Washington.-New
York Times.