The Southern herald., 1912-10-25
NHO MADE FOOTPRINTS
question THAT HAS SCIENTISTS
INA oUANDARV.
gndoubtedly There, in a Solid Rock at
croton, N. Y, But How They
Came There Is Something That
Puzzles the Wisest.

Mysterious footprints in the solid
noek on the east and west banks OF
he Hudson at Croton, n Y, have
puzzled the scientists, who believe
hem to have been made by primeval
nan before the Stone Age. On the
EAST shore. along the old Albany post
ooad and at the bottom Of steep hill
belonging to the A. P. Gardiner es-
ate, lies a huge bowlder shadowed by
.all trees. It's smooth surface bears
The imprint Of a pair Of human feet
placed side by side, as if barefooted
man had walked down the hill and
stood on the spot while the stone was
still soft and yielding from natures
,rueible. Every toe is clearly defined,
and judging from the mold he left in
the granite the foot Of this ancient
man was both large and shapely. Be
hind the footprints, all the way to the
top of the rock, are series OF peeu-
liar indentations such as the links Of a
heavy chain would make on soft earth.
Exactly opposite, on High Tar noun
tain, ON the other side of the Hudson,
the footprints again appear on the
rock, but with the heels turned toward
the river, as II the man was travelling
away from it due west By actual
measurement the footprints on both
sides Of the river correspond in ev-
cry particular and were undoubtedly
made by the same pair Of feet.
Many weird and wonderful legends
have been read from the footprints in
the rock. One Of these attributes
them to the devil, who was chained up
in Connecticut for a number Of years,
but finally escaped and fled into New
York. Dragging his chain after him
he paused on the boulder at the foot OF
Eessian Hill to rest before he contin
ued his fight to the vast Adirondack
wilderness. The indentations in the
Hessian Hill rock are pointed out as
the marks Of his chain, and the foot
prints on High Tar as further zorro
boratiye evidence Of the truth Of this
tale. Another story relates that cave
man was approached from the real
by terrible many-legged serpent as
he stood upon the boulder, and that he
was so frightened he leaped clear
across the Hudson and landed on the
other side, The indentations are sup
posed to have been made by the ser
pent's legs, which we're in a row, one
behind the other, Indian file.
A famous professor on first viewing
the footprints advanced the theory
that they we're made by the missing
link" before he shed his caudal ap
pendage, which trailed in the prehis
toric clay behind him while be scanned
the surrounding landscape for some
thing good for breakfast This &C
counted for the indentations and
scored one for the Darwinian theory
The devil legend seems to have hit the
public fancy, though, for the big boul
der at Hessian Hill is known as thu
Devils Rock, and CrOton people poinf
to the strange fact that nothing will
grow in the unholy footprints, while
the surface Of the rock elsewhere il
covered with gray-green lichens anC
thick moss. The Mohegans, who bull
their signal fires on the top of Hessiar
Hill before the first Dutch trader set
tied there to give rum and firearms
for furs, regarded the giant boulder
with deep veneration, and believed
the footprints to have been made b!
the Great Spirit when he created thu
world.