The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-01-06
A PRIZE YARN ABOUT ~
~ A MIXED SEA MONSTER
Combination of Fish, Alligator and
Bat Found.
Throws the Old Sea Serpent Into the Shades.
Gigantic Survivor Of Prehistoric Ages is Over
Sixty-fivc Feet Long, and Equally Home
In Air O Sea.

Salt Lake, Utah.-A terrible, name
less, unclassified creature OF the ami
nal world is exciting the curiosity,
wonder and fear of occasional visitors
TO Stansbury Island, in the southern
portion of Great Salt Lake.
This monster. so strange and unnat-
ural in appearance, has lately, 1t Is
said. been seen by several persons, but
the best account of its characteristics
and movement is given by Martin Gil
bert and John Barry, two hunters who
this week returned from an expedition
over the island, in the course of which
they studied the habits of this hitherto
unheard of creature for three days
The monster. which appears TO be
almost equally at home in the air. on
the beach, or submerged in the briny
waters of Salt Lake. is probably the
sole survivor of a prehistoric species.
1t is doubtless the last representative
| of n family whose other members. dead
| ages since, have left the testimony of
| their existence in the primeval rocks
| of the mountains.
Arranging in concise form the de-
| scriptlon of this incredible relic of the
| animal world. from the accounts given
| by those who have observed IL at close
| range, 1t seems in plain, unsclentiiic
| language, n combination of fish, ali
| gator, and bat.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BEAST.
In size it is simply tremendous. Gill
bert places its length at sixty feet.
| while Barry, who is an amateur sclen-
| tist, says that an examination of its
| tracks demonstrates that the monster
| must be sixty-fve feet from head to
| tail.
The head is like that of an alligator,
t.le eyes fiercely glowing. the jaws,
capable of opening to n distance of ten
| feet from the top of the upper TO the
| lower, are provided with n fearful ar
ray of sharp saw-edged teeth; the
| body, so far as observation goes, is en-
| cased with heavy horny scales. As to
this Gilbert and Barry are not positive.
as the constant diving of the beast. IL
such it may be called, into the strong
brine of the lake has incrusted it with
a thick coating of salt. which. save
near the wings, completely hides the
body
| According TO their account they first
| slghted 1t at q distance of between
one and half and two miles. The day
was clear, the sun intensely bright
| Gilberts own words of the discovery
| are:
| We were walking westward from the
east shore of the island about o o'clock
j., the morning, when suddenly to the
northwest there appeare.. q Thing,
don't know what TO call 1t: it looked TO
me like brilliant rainbow folded into
n compact mass, moving rapidly
through the air
II was so astounded that for few
moments doubted the evidence of my
own senses. The object came nearer.
but the colors We're so dazzling that II
was some time before II assumed def
mite form. No one who has not wit
messed the sight can conceive its
strangeness. The mass of color was
glowing. flaming, radiant l spoke to
Barry, saying:
For Gods sake, man can You see
thatT and he was no less astonished
than myself
| IN three or four minutes the mon
ster's position was such that 1t no
longer reflected the sunlight directly
toward u.s. and we could then discern
the outline of the form. Its wings
were batlilie, stretching out over n
great eXpanse. l should say at least
one hundred feet from tip to tip. The
tail was proportlonately short and re-
sembled that of huge fish. We were
not close enough at this time to tell
much about the head, only we saw that
the jaws We're very long. In shape the
head was like that of crocodile"
Gilbert gave a long account of how
he and Barry watched the monster,
which supported its enormous wings,
swung round and round in immense
circles through the air, gradually de-
tcending and approaching nearer to
them. He declares that 1t was not
more than 300 yards above their heads.
when, now convinced that the awful
creature was about to attack them, he
fired at the monster with his rife, n
c4-calibre gun loaded with steel
cased bullet.
The missile, he believes, struck fair,
but inflicted no apparent wound. The
monster gave utterance to strange,
fear-inspiring cry, half snort. half
roar, and, rising rapidly in the air.
veered quickly to the west, and after
three miles of flight settled down and
disappeared beyond the crest of the
hills.
BULLET HAD NO EFFECT.
A few seconds after the shot was
fired, while the hunters We're watching
the fight of the dragon-like beast,
some small Jumps of salt fell almost at
their feet. They were more than ever
mystifed by this but not until the
next day were they able to ascertain
its source.
Determined to learn more of the
monster, Gilbert and Barry FASTENED
| In tho diraatinn of its 1itht opd N ftar