Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-09
VILE SERPENT
USES CIGARS
SMOKING MONSTER STICKS ITS
HEAD OVER TAFFRAlL
~ You Doubt Yarn Call on Captain
Knluhtnam at the San Pedro
Wharves end Take Smoke
with Him

Special to The Herald.
SAN PEDRO, Sept. s.-slnce the
captain and cook and seventeen sup
pie, sun-burned scandinavian seamen
saw the thing, It must have been real
sea serpent. Nothing to 1t.
The fact that the good ship Dixie
was proceeding to this port with loau
of Sacramento grape fruit at the time
should not put a dent In the narrative
Right from the jump the reptile de-
veloped two unusual characteristics:
He was a cigarette fiend and wanteu
to lick a whale that was hanging
around to pick UP butts. In fact, 1t
was the serpent blowing the exhaust
from a cigarette through his nose that
first attracted the notice of Captain
Eugene Knightham and his unbleached
seamen.
Twas High Noon
At the fashionable hour of high noon
the first puff of smoke issued from the
sea two cable lengths from the Dixie
on the port bow just abaft the lee
booby hatch coamings. Soon the ser
pent followed the puff of smoke. lie
was coming UP to spit
"Coil down the spanker halyards and
stand by to holystone the poop deck!
yelled Captain Knightham. IF that
monster of the deep spits on us we'll
sinkl"
aye, aye, sir" said the cook turn
ing on his heel and walking aft. The
exact position of the cook at the time
was not known, and they always walk
aft in these exciting episodes.
Mouth an Aperture
Meanwhile the smoking serpent let
off another puff and stuck his head out
of the sea. Being weakened by eXces-
L.. IL Il
mon of the deep was unable to hoist
his head more than thirty feet above
sea level And such a head! He had
a mouth that was never closed. His
eyeballs resembled the Edam cheese
of commerce, being pink and highly
infiamed and cris-crosSed with fine
lines like the memorial windows in an
avenue church.
Captain Knightham was at once
alive to his danger
''Furl and stow the flying jbboom
and batten down the ash chutes!' he
commanded, in low, tense accents.
AS the sailors sprang to obey his or
der, the serpent pushed his head up
few feet higher and cut down the dis
tance between himself and the ship to
just one cable length. Smoke arose
in clouds. While the sailors stood
rooted to the grease spots on the deck,
the reptile ducked his head and swat
ted the sea with sixty feet of his body,
that formed a triumphal arch alongside
the ship.
Swallowed the Cigarette
The conclusion listed the captains
quid to starboard and threw the cook
on his beam ends. Up rose a frothy
column of water sufficient to swamp a
Sunday school excursion steamer. In
the smother of foam the still blue body
of the serpent, six feet in diameter,
writhed and twisted and gurgled.
He had swallowed the cigarette.
When the tumult Subsided and the
ship ceased rocking, the serpent hung
his wide-open face over the port taft
rail and looked at the sailors.
What do you reckon he wants
now?" said Cap Knightham.
"Vittles," said the cook. These var
mints is always hungry
Then why not appease him." sug-
gested the skipper.
I've got pair of doughnuts in the
galley-the kind mother used to make"
said the cook.
The Look Did It
The captain took another look at the
open countenance hanging over the
rail.
"Try a ham," he said. while 1 fig
ure out the exact latitude and longi-
tude"
So the cook, assisted by the tremb-
ling seamen, appeased the monster
They tossed thirteen hams into his
face. Luckily the hams were built at
Cincinnati and not at Chicago, else the
Dixie never would have reached this
port. After swallowing his ham, with
out the And, the appeased and CRATE
full serpent turned on the whale and
whaled him plenty.
Captain Knightham said the battle
was very exciting. but he gave no de-
tails. He was too much taken I'D en-
tertaining the serpent at luncheon. The
captain would have offered his guest a
little chipped beef from the buIwarks,
but he couldn't find the axe until the
repast had ended.
You can verify all this at the San
Pedro wharves.