Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1902-02-13
STRANGE MONSTER IN FLORIDA.
Reptile Formerly Thought TO Be a Crea-
ture of Indian Imagination.

heptie Formerly lnOuSnt 10 be a Cre0-
ture of Indian Imagination.
An enormous reptile, more like the
extinct brontosaurus, Or 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 insurution at Washington.
1t has for 100 years not only been
! a tradition among the Seminole In
dians who inhabiated the borders Of
Lake Okeechobee, but it is stated as
fact wllnin the knowledge of some
of the Indians now living that an i'm
mense serpent made it's home in the
Everglades 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 it's surroundings to discover
enemies or to locate victims, a deer,
bear, hog or some other animal. If
frightened, the Indians asserted that
it glided off at immense speed.
These stories have kept the venture
some hunter and trapper on 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 periodi-
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 OF
the largest ailigators ever seen in this
section, 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
Stduu lOT HIS game. IIe dSSOiu uiheis
took his position in the tree. For two
days he stood on watch with his rifle
ready. Nothing appeared. He was be-
coming 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 SER
oil al hn
gator track He estimated it to be
anywhere from 25 to 80 feet long and
fully 10 10 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
its head. AS it did Ferrel shot at it's
head. Taken by surprise 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 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
CT eature dead and its 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 q frightfui look
ing object, fully 10 inches frcm jaw
to jaw, and ugly, razor-like teeth. He
described the animal as dark colored
en- its back and a dingy white be-
meath, with feelers around its 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.-New
York Times.