The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-13
THEY HAVE FOUND HIM.

All this spring we nave been worry ing over the inexpiicable abuse of what has usually been one of the important features in the news columns of con temporaries on the ocean coast, and have not been able to explain it. We refer. of course. to the annual crop of sea-serpent taies-and tails--vhich al- ways appear In Spring and early Sum- mer. We mean that the tails and bodies appear in the great salt seas and the tales appear in the enterprise ing newspapers. We couldn't account for 1t. Whether there has been too much politics. or whether the big stick scared them of or whether they were discouraged by the prohibition move ment-for prohibition is wonderful discourager of snake stories--or what was the matter, we couldn't imagine. We only knew that the stories failed to come. but at length the suspense has been broken. The Norfolk (va). Ledger Dispatch prints this good one. sent from Galveston. Texas. and pur- porting to give true and faithful &C., count of what was witnessed by the of- fcers and crew of the good ship Liv- ingstone on a recent trip. Here is the sworn afidavit:
 The ship got within sixty feet of
 as req whA and m on TOT sdnrs TeWed hs serpent through the glasses. It was apparently sleeping. and was not less than 200 feet long. of about the diam. the body, but was not round. The head was about six feet long by three feet at the widest part. near it's tail were rings or circles that appeared larger in circumference than the body at that point. As # swam tling noise as loud as that made by 1 Gatifng gun in action startled the watchers on the Livingstone"
 The only thing lacking in the story. so far as we can see. is the failure to tell where this wonderful creature was seen, but perhaps that is minor de- tail. It was seen, or else somebody has prevaricated. and that is the main point. This. 1t will be observed, was no insignificant whip-snake or water rnoecasion; nor yet was it one of the artificiaI sea-serpents manufactured and set afoat to attract the attention of summer visitors at the watering places. It was the real thing, long as an average city block. though unusual jy small in diameter for .ts length. It was the real thing for fact.
 The one new feature about 1t, speak ing from our limited acqualntance with ea-serpents. is the rings and rattles on It's tail. Snakes with rings around them are not unknown. and we are all more or less familiar with rattiesnakes, but rattling sea-serpent is something new. There are so many improve rnents going in these days that perhaps this Is an improved style of sea-ser- pent. We are sorry that those who made the afadavit failed to tell where they saw the creature and in what di- rection it was going. Perhaps 1t was on its way to the Atlantic sea-coast to put itself on exhibition for the adrnfra- ton and wonder of the summer viai- tors. We notice. by the way. that The Richmond Times Dispatch ts disposed to poke fun at this account. It states several points that 1t thinks pertinent. adding:
 Nor are the best serpents ever brown
  They are blue, green or pink. one or all. They have eyes as big as car Tiage ss wheels and .i these eyes are rs,:S9, yel shoot out a baleful light. They have long horns, and distinct, though rudi- mentary. chin whiskers. Many of them sie which NGSe's tSe fsoss sS of irst mates % turn deathly pab. And when they. swim away (which they seldom dol they do aatIing gun. hsir rattle is like tn fall of Port Arthur fin the big show tent, and the seq rocks and shivers uti- der 1t.
 The I'D. shouldn't get funny on such a solemn subject. Possibly 1t is sore because the monster failed to show up at Richmond. or at some point on the Virginia coast before vis- ting Texas, but 1t should comfort it. self with the reflection that perhaps the snake had lately emerged from It's hole and hadn't become acquainted with all the points of the compass. when it gets its bearings it may head for Virginia or some other point on the Atlantic coast where it can become the wonder and admiration of the pleasure loving and the sight-seers. The main thing from our point of view is that the sea-serpent is not extinct and that 1t hasn't been driven from our coasts.