The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-16
SEABOARD SNAKE DRAWS BIG CROWD
Terrified Monster Develops Into
 An Old Fallen Palm
CITIZENS VIEW MONSTER
One Gentleman Thinks His snakeship Must Have crawIed Under the Mountain Several Hundred
 Years Ago.

The sea serpent, whose coming has been heralded for some days, reached the of flee of the commercial agent of the Sea- board Air Line in the Woodward build ing today, and was viewed by hundreds of people.
 He came in twelve sections, and it is said that several sections were side tracked. His last known abiding place, or at least the place where his remains were discovered, is what is known as Roper's Tunnel, about twenty miles east of Bir- mingham, on the line of the Seaboard. To be more particular, he was found in the hill about one hundred and sixty feet from the western entrance of the tunnel.
 W. G. Lewis, the resident engineer in charge of the work, secured between ten and eleven feet of snake, and states that several feet more were unavoidably de- stroyed in blasting. MT. Lewis places a very high estimate on the value of his find, and it is understood that he and his partner have had his snakeship insured for a large amount.
 Colleges Want Him.
 It was stated that Howard college and several other institutions of learning have offered him an asylum, and his press agent stated that the competition be- tween the colleges for the privelege of entertaining him would be brisk. One gen. tleman of antiquarian proclivities, has urged on his guardians that he be kept at home, and has threatened to start pe- tition in case a proposition to send him to the Smithsonian is favorably consid- cred.
 One gentleman who was looking at him today, stated that The must have crawled in under the mountain two or three hun dred years ago, to be petriied like he he is" But this gentleman came from a land where there are no snakes, and is not considered an expert on the sub ject.
 Ex-Mayor J. A. vanhoose went to see the sea serpent When asked what he thought of it he said he imagined that the serpent had been on spree, as he looked very much broken up.
 William Vaughan, the attorney viewed the serpent from distance, but upon be- ing assured by the young gentleman who acted as master of ceremonies at the re- ception that the varmint was dead, he made a closer acquaintance with the re- mains and decided that something in the nature of an attachment would be the proper proceeding to take under the cir cumstances.
 Is Really Palm.
 T. II. Aidrich of the Aldrieh Mining company, after examining the serpent, said: 1t is a fossil palm of the carbonf- erous age. The palm being an endogenous plant, the inner portion is soft or pithy, and the section of palm under considera- fion falls horizontally with a superposed load of vegetable and mineral matter which fattened it out somewhat in the semblance of q snake or serpent. The head is a piece of slate cunningly fash toned by art or nature, and the scale-lke appearance of the skin is due to the scars left on the bark when the leaves fall off. It was probably in life a speci- men of the lepidodendron. and any one who has travelled in the tropics has seen many specimens of this kind of plant The cocoanut palm is an example. All of the plants of the carbonIferous age are fern-like-the palm Is really only a big fern. In many instances these palms are found in coal measures, standing upright, and thousands of these 'serpents' have been found all over the country"