davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

snakelike shark. resembling the crap
sharks found in the Pacific
Dr. Gill regarded the survival of
zeuglodon or Of such a monster sea liz
ard as a plesiosaur. after many millions
of yearS, as a possibility.
But" ne added. there is no prob
ability that any one will ever enjoy the
sight of such possibility. Yet many
able scientists, including Agassiz, have
said that such creature as the
plesiosaur may still survive
do you regard all reports OF monster
sea serpents as pure Pigments of the
imagination?' l asked DR.. Gill.
Most of the wonderful creatures made
the subject OF sea serpent stories doubt
less are living animals of some Sort he
replied. Il will give some examples. Let
us dispose of one of the most consplcu-
ous pictures of the sea serpent yet print
ed This is given in a work by Erik
Pontoppidan Bishop of Bergen. Norway
who wrote more than a century and a
half ago describing giant sea serpents and
mermaids which he believed really ex-
listed. He. being a godly man, should
not be distrusted entirely
This monster was represented with Its
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11
DOES This SURVIVE 2 Tue hE1oSAVe -
s z->A MARIN LIZARD LOO FEET Lone

lished. DR.. Smith found it to consist of
an imperfect skeleton, about ten and one
half feet long. stretched at full length
upon a PLANK. The parts present were a
skull, stumps of fins and a backbone.
which, with a short section missing from
the tail end, contained 274 vertebrate. The
creature appeared SO hideoLs and mon
strous to some scribes assigned to the
story that they limited in their papers that
the serpent was not bona fide but
a manufactured product
4
DIR. Smith discovered that the car
cass had been snagged by line fish
erman a few miles off Atlantic City.
But, as the specimen was a paying at
traction, it could not be obtained for
study. However, DR.. Smith had made
a series of drawings and photographs
of detailed portions Of the skeleton, and
these, with several vertebrae. he brought
to the Smithsonian Institution and SUBJ
mitted to DIR. Gill. the above-quoted, who
lost no time in Identifying the monster
as thresher shark.
The third monster investigated by Dr.
Smith was a huge. serpentlike creature
seen floating in Long Island sound some
summers ago, by thousands of eXcur-
sionists. 1t proved to be the carcass of a
huge python. which had died on board
a ship from the East Indies After hav-
ing been skinned. it was thrown over
board.
While scientists are not in accord on
the question, DR.. Smith thinks that
some circumstantial evidence recently
gathered will perhaps weaken the be-
lief of some intelligent persons, who have
heretofore denied the possibility of the ex-
istence at this day of marine monsters
comparable to those of geological times"
However, this may be, he said, there
are now in the seas we'll known mem
bers of the fish class large enough to
be regarded as monsters and 10 afford
the basis of some sea serpent stories.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

slider that a plurality of wives twelve
hitherto has been the custom for an en-
peror) is OF modern Japan. In other re
CARDS he has conformed to an older spirit.
His wife, the present empress. was chosen
from a merely noble family-the quality
of health entering appreciably into the
choice. She. indeed, is known for her
physical vitality. and in her school days
was a devotee Of tennis.
Such is a slight portrait of Yoshihito,
new Emperor Of Japan. who. presumably.
will desert his own palace and inherit
that in which the late emperor lived
Here the note Is Japanese. incongruously
blended with the mechanical devices OF
the occident. long and low as are its
labrynths OF buildings, andi is chiefly
remarkable for Its covered passages and
its covered courts.
-.
The architecture is OF the ancient
japanese style, with high roofs at sharp
angles and heavy gray tiles. No whisper
of the European speaks there. Inside are
walls Of plate glass and lacquer. which,
rolled aside open up vistas Of tremendous
rooms Generally, here. visitors are inn
pressed with the triumph of japanese
simplicity which characterizes IT, though.
strangely enough, the late emperors and
the empress apartments are furnished
with French rosewood furniture and rugs
in the European style. Mutsuhito in
variably ate, as does the present emperor.
at table, and with those overwhelming in
fuences. knives and forks.
Throughout the palace, too. one finds,
even in medieval environment, electric
lights-in the mystic covered courtyards.
In the fascinating connecting passages
which go up and down. and-necessarily-
in the very Frenchy modern dining room
itself. But in his emperors suite. in the
midst of the many indications of western
ways-in smoking rooms, libraries. billiard
rooms. dressing rooms. stands one incon-
gruity which seems insensibly to creep
into the blended civilization of the Jap
anese. Ii is the imperial bedroom. plain
to barrenness, in its japanese style,
ventilated, dark. windowless, and sur
rounded on every side by the rooms OF
the emperors personal bodyguard 1t IL,
indeed. in the heart of the palace.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

This view is held also by DR. Tarleton
H. Bean. late director OF the New York
aquarium and now state fish culturalist
OF New York. He does not doubt that in
the deep abysses of the sea are living
monsters unknown to science. which come
occasionally to the surface and give foun-
dalton to sea serpent stories.
A Jealous champion of the sea serpent's
reality is DIR. A. c. Oudemans the we'll
known zoologist. After collecting all OBJ
tainable reports of sea serpent visitations
palpable cheats and hoaXes' he has OBJ
tanned evidence Of sixty-six such mon
sters reported between Newfoundland
and Florida within period OF 139 years.
These monsters. he says. are migratory.
and that they do not like cold water Is
shown by the fact that none have been
reported along our coasts between No
vember and January. inclusive. while
only two have been seen during Feb
ruary. March and April. Their return
with warm weather however. is shown
by the record of three in May, nine in
June, seven in July and finally round
couple of dozen in August, which. as
stated, is our sea serpent month par ex-
cellence. After this the visitations taper
off-four in September two in October
and none in November. The fact that
comparatively few of these monsters
have been reported from our Pacific coast
is, according to DR. Oudemans. due to
the fact that the greater ocean is far less
frequented by ocean passengers rather
than to the probable absence of such
creatures from its waters.
The sea serpent is a great mammal
most nearly related to the sea bear, ac-
cording to this naturalist. In the view of
some biologists the great zeuglodon was
closely related to this same species. but
its greatest known length, seventy feet,
is far surpassed by the 30 feet attributed
by DR.. Oudemans to his Hypothetical
creature. which. he says appears to
have a head resembling that of the sea
lion, an eel-like neck. a hairy seal-like
trunk with two flippers on each side and
a tapering, pointed tail. The males OF
this species like those of the seal, he
thinks. are probably adorned with the
name which figures so persistently in sea
serpent descriptions.
Copyright 1912. by John Elfreth watkins-l
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11
In Corn Time. .

MRS. TAFT tells a story about a little
AVA country-weeker who sat under a
tree one August afternoon with a strain
ed, anxious look on his face and both
hands folded upon his small stomach
whats the matter with him? Is he
iil?' a visitor asked.
''Oh, no, ma am: he amt ill,' said the
farmers wife; but no stomach of that
size can stand eleven ears OF corn"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

his subjects is divine.
The succession of other eInperors is
clonded and disconnected: that Of Yoshi-
hito is complete and self sufficient One
hundred and twenty-third sovereign of
his line. he traces his royal descent back
10 the Hists OF the world, back COO years
and more before the time OF Christ,
back. in fact, to the great heroic age of
Japan. when two gods were called upon
TO create a land from the liquid islands
OF the air-and they created Japan.
From these gods he claims descent, and
not even the most highly educated and
scientifically minded japanese Will dis
pute IL That is the chord of belief which
no modern sophistication can pierce The
dead Mutsuhito has taken his harborage
with his fellow-gods, and Yoshihito,
reigning, is OF his blood
This, IN part. explains the attitude of
veneration in which the japanese re-
gard their ruler, explains the sentiment
which marks him forth from brother SOW
ereigns. 1t is a sentiment which few
japanese Will discuss
1T is a sentiment" said one to the
writer, which il Is impossible for a
aiyzed no foreign mind could compre-
bend"
Japanese resident here for a quar-
ter OF a century, however, attempted the
task
'It springs partly from the intense
fdealish of the people" said he, and is
really peculiar form Of patriotism. IL
Ii as If the Japanese nation were rever-
encing itself. for II believes that il, too
sprang from the gods and that il is of
the family of the emperor. To a nation
which reverences its ancestors, the en-
peror represents link between the pres
ent Japan and everything that has gone
oefore-a link, perhaps, between the ma
ter1al and the spirit worlds. He is at
once an element OF mysticism and the
eoeoolment of material national strength
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

IT is as ff'-the japanese gentleman
paused-"you could merge the sentiment
OF Roman Catholic for the Pope and
the affection of people for a great
king
will the present emperor preserve for
himself the full sentiment which the peo-
pie had for his father was asked.
The Japanese shrugged.
In a measure. perhaps Wholly per-
maps not, he answered.
That he will command a peculiar rev
erence is certain from the reasons l have
given. which are inherent in the nation.
mat the affection Of the people will be
as great as that given to the late en-
peror is doubtful. You see, the last SOW
ereign INSPIRED and controlled Japan
from It's growth from feudal land To
Worldwide nation. From the time the
great princes or daimios surrendered
thelr powers and estates TO the grant
ing OF a modern and voluntary constitu-
ton in 1889, his was the initiative OF
each successive advance. He had done
more even than the nation eXpected-cer-
talnly more than had ever been accom-
plished for a nation before. That record
was personal TO him and is responsible
for the personal love with which he is
regarded We honor and reverence the
new sovereign-yes He is emperor he
is the embodied spirit of Japan But,
love? Even an emperor must earn love
for himself.
SO enters Yoshihito. the new emperor
OF Japan, upon his kingdom-the re-
cipient, in western eyes. of strange
marks of Japanese respect For if
the race follows the precedents given
TO Mutsuhito. Yoshihitos name will not
be pronounced by any of his subjects
The sovereign, the emperor" he will
be; never Yoshihito. To call the name
or foshihito will be sacrilege 1t
would be as IL a shrine had been as
sailed. And that is only a small indi-
cation or the respect which the Japa-
nese Will give him sovereign No
man or woman will sit before him.
None. II convention be maintained, will
speak directly to him. for it is the GUS
tom to address the Emperor OF Japan
only through members of his house
hold In his presence even the great
est VIII look upon the ground, unless
the emperor be placed at some eleva-
ton. when it is permissible that the
eyes be raised. and even this is a con-
cession TO the new world OF things in
Japan.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

spection. examined the skeleton and dis
covered it to be a composite. including
the bones of several Zeuglodons strung
together. When last heard of by DR..
CHI this sea serpent" was sold by Koch
to the museum of Dresden. The accom-
panying photograph of the skeleton of
zeuglodon properly mounted has been
furnished me by DIR. GILL; and was made
from the unequaled specimen obtained by
the Smithsonian some time ago from our
southern coast. Mixed with these bones
when dug up We're the shell of turtle
three feet long and part of the backbone
of a watersnake. which in life must have
measured twenty-five feet from head to
tail If this great zeuglodon were alive
it would very nicely fit many popular
descriptions of the ''sea serpent"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

len Yoshihito be-
came the reigning
sovereign OF Japan
about two weeks
ago he found HIM
self in a position
comparable TO that
OF no emperor on
earth. Other en-
perors, western
and eastern, are
but human. YOShi-
hito in the eyes OF
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11
Ply JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS.

M the sea serpent
be longer denied?
Is il the remnant
of a mOnStrous
species supposedly
extinct, or some
adventurer fro m
the deep sea lair
of a modern race
of leviathanS as
yet undiscovered
by science?
Such queries |
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

In the accompanying group of three gil
gantic sea lizards you will perceive in the
left foreground this terrible elasmosaur,
the most colossal and most serpentlike
of all that ancient group. With its whale
like body. long and flexible neck. short
paddles and serpentine tail it would an
swer well to popular descriptions of the
sea serpent. Its tremendous size is at
tested by it's vertebrae, some of which,
now preserved, are nearly as large as
those of the elephant In the right back
ground of the picture is its cousin, the
mosasaur, of which no fewer than ten
species are known to have inhabited this
part of the world, six having been found
in New Jersey. This terrible sea lizard at
tanned a length of forty feet. It's head
was fiat and pointed and it's lower jaw
was provided with an attachment of car
tilege by which it could open its mouth to
as the modern snake. The central figure
in this group is another of these crea-
lures known as the laelops great
kangaroolike lizard which freQuented the
land.
There are no monster sea serpents'
was the emphatic reply of DIR. Theodore
n. Gill. the distinguished ichthyoIogist of
the Smithsonian Institution. There is
no animal of gigantic size now living in
the sea which could be properly classed
a serpent, or even reptile.
1T is possible that great selachan
related to the frilled shark of Japan may
be found in the seas. This would have
an eellike body, fin back Of the head
and. II very long, would agree to some
extent with descriptions of the great sea
sehpent. AS a matter of fact there was
discovered not many years ago a small,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

to have been linguistically inclined. for
the present emperor speaks English and
French, as we'll as German From Gen.
Ohu he studied military tactics and early
of a talisman- At thirteen he was a lieu
tenant, at sixteen colonel Of the japanese
army.
In these early Years from our west ern
viewpoint he lived life of remarkable
independence of parental control He &C.
cupied. almost from infancy, a palace
of his own-not. however, distant from
the emperor's and within that park which
could comfortably accommodate the Vat
lean and Central Park and be sublimely
unconscious of the assimilation. This, I'M
der the charge of a chamberlain and
three assistants, and at a yearly expense
of 10000 yen, was his home throughout
his years of schooling and early man
hood, and it contained everything that
even Crown Prince of Japan should
have. 1t came perilously near the lux
urleS offered by any ocean liner. The
small and weakly prince had his gymna-
SUM, his bowling alley, his tennis and
archery courts, his stables. his riding pa
WHOM, his fishing ponds. And these de-
Veloped in him an outdoor taste which
today, at thirty-two, has given him. II
not rugged, at least a normal health.
Here his youth was spent in the society
mostly of royal relatives-the japanese
examples of his sisters and his cousins
and his aunts. AS he grew his society
changed to that of the juvenile MOBILES
he met at school. A japanese authority
in New York describes this intimacy curl
ously. 1T is he says. "a blend OF the
intimacy of a young man and the pc
cuiiar veneration for his royalty WHICH
all Japanese, possess
In the seclusion of his palace also
Yoshihito developed a keen attachmer.
for versification. whichever in modern
Japan-is deemed one of the most ia
portant accomplishments in court circles.
This poetry he writes both In Japanese
and in Chinese-the last activity corce-
spending with that Latin verse which IL
was the joy of English scholars In other
times to compose.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

HE must have reared at least third
Of his great length out OF the water, to
take a comprehensive view of the sur
roundings. His tail must have propelled
him at a speed of from twenty to thirty
miles an hour
'-Zeuglodons were once very numerous
in the Gulf of Mexico. also the old seas
of southern Europe They have been
called 'whalelike king lizards but in
reality were mammals, not reptiles. The
zeuglodon is usually thought to be the an
cestor Of the whale, but l think he died
without issue.
There is no apparent inherent impos-
sibilty that the ZeIglodon does exist to-
day. But We don't find him-that is all.
If fish of such ancient lineage as the
gar pike-going back 10 the days when
the Zeuglodon foLrished-is SO common as
to be a nuisance why may there not be
a few zeuglodons, plesiosaurs or mosa-
saurs somewhere in the depths of tie
ocean,
One recent sea-serpent story in which
Director Lucas takes some stock is that
of the captain OF the British ship Fly
who states that while becalmed in the
Gulf of California. in twelve fathonls Of
remarkably clear water. he saw crawling
over the bottom an extraordinary lizard
Ike monster, with long, serpentlike neck,
short tail and four f1ippers, like those of
a turtle The naturalist regards it as
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

The federal bureau of fisheries has
been hunting the sea serpent ever since
it was founded It's second officer in COM
mand, DR.. Hugh NJ. Smith. United States
deputy commissioner of fisheries. told me
yesterday how he has personally followed
to their lairS two or three of the most
horrible of these creatures.
One was a monster found drifting some
years ago in Nantucket sound. in the
vicinity of Hyannis. Mass. 1t having been
described at great length by the Boston
papers, DR.. Smith, then at the fisheries
laboratory at Woods Hole, nearby. pro-
ceeded to investigate it.
He says he found the monster in a
marsh, where it had lodged after having
been turned adrift by the fishermen who
had caught it. 1t was both horrible and
grotesque to behold. indeed-a large. bad
H decomposed shark, whose skin had
fallen away from parts of the fins, leav-
ing only stumps. which suggested feet.
The second sea serpent investigated by
DR.. Smith was, he said, exhibited upon
pier at Atlantic City in July, 1904. 1t
was advertised as "a genuine sea SER
pent," and sensational accounts of it's be-
havior before falling victim to the
brave fishermen who caught it were pub
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

have been flnging at some distinguished
naturahsts with widely varying results.
which I shall proceed to report at once,
especially inasmuch as my investigation
brings to light the scientifically estab
fshed fact that August is our sea serpent
month par excellence.
II incline rather TO belief than to I'M
belief in the monster Director Fred
erick y. Lucas of the American Museum
OF Natural History told me. THE big
gest sea serpents we know of lived in the
eocene period says he. Take, for in
stance, the Zeuglodon. He would tally
perfectly with some of the most sensa-
tional sea serpent descriptions which We
hear year after year. The zeuglodon
grew as large as seventy feet in length
and eight feet in diameter. His head was
small and pointed. His jaws were well
armed with grasping and cutting teeth
Just back of his head he carried pair
of short paddles, not unlike those of
fur seal
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

For Mutsuhito. the dead emperor.
passed the first sixteen years of life,
unseen by any foreigner. unseen by
any but his personal attendants. who
were of his family. In conference even
with the greatest of those who served
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11
S1z11E TON OF ZnUoLoDoN M NATIONAL HCUsLUpr

Among these are not only the big sharks
mentioned by DIR. Gill. but such creatures
the skatelike. bat-shaped, two-horned
devil fish" or ocean vampire a giant
ray. which ventures far north in At
lantic waters as Cape May, and which at
tains a weight of six tons. also a breadth
of thirty feet: the ocean sunfsh, of both
Atlantic and Pacific waters. found weigh
ing as much as l 500 pounds; the TUNA" "
great funny or horse mackerel. a $50
of both oceans, which reaches LOO
pounds in weight. and fifteen feet in
length: the sawfish. which grows TO be
over twenty feet long.
Such OF these creatures AS science has
seen have been found dead or dying at
the surface OF the water, and biologists
have shown no activity in finding their
lairs.
This suggests said DIR. Smith. how
fragmentary must be our knowledge or
the larger animals of the oceanic abyss
and how possible il might be for I'M
known monsters to exist there in album
dance"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

In 1906. when his three-storied palace
was built, at a cost of 100000. lit was
European, rather than japanese in char
acter. Even in his unofficial moments,
too. he uses European dress. His matri-
monial condition, also. is singular. in that
it may only be referred to in the singu-
lar; and he has been reputed 10 con-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

INTERVIEWS With Dis
1 tinguished Naturalists on
the Much-mooted Question
Scientific Statistics Showing
That August Is Sea Serpent
Month Along Our Coasts
Varying Evidence as to What
the Sea Serpent Really Is
Some Believe Him to Be a
Monster as Yet Unstudied
Which Now and Then Peeps
UP From Deep Sea Abysses
Others Think Him a Sur
vival of Some Mammoth
Species of Past Ages.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

tLASMOSAUR LEFTY
NOSASAUR (RlGhT)
IAELAPS (CENTER

remarkable. to say the least, that this
skipper. who doubtless had never heard
of a plesiosaur, should thus describe one
with amazing accuracy, both as to form
and probable habit. The director regards
it as just as possible for the plesiosaur
to survive as for some of our sharks,
which date back to the same geologic
period Some natura1iStS have estimated
that these monStrous. serpent-headed,
duck necked marine lizards grew to be
100 feet in length and had eyes a yard
in diameter. And. in Mr.. Lucas opinion,
there is no more reason for admitting tile
survival Of the plesiosaur than for as
Stunning that a mosasaElr and It's not-dis
tant relative. the elasmosaur, still live.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-11

snakelke shark. resembling the crap
sharks found in the Pacific