The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-09-28
WHO ElADE FOOTPRINTS
QUESTION THAT HAS eclENTlers
IN A QuANDARY.
Undoubtedly There, In q Solid Rock q,
croton, N. v, But How They
Came There 10 Something That
Puzzles the Wlsest.

Mysterious footprints in the solid
rock on the east and west banks Of
the Hudson at Croton, N. Y, have
puzzled the scientists. who believe
them to have been made by a primeval
man before the Stone Age. On the
east shore. along the old Albany post.
road and at the bottom of a steep hill
belonging to the A. P. Gardiner ca.
tate, lies q huge bowlder shadowed BY
tall trees. Its smooth surface bears
the imprint Of pair of human feet
placed side by side, az IL a barefooted
man had walked down the hill and
stood on the spot while the stone was
still soft and yielding from natures
crucible. Every toe ia 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 pecu.
liar indentations such as the links of q
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 If the man was travelling
away from 1t 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 number of years.
but finally escaped and fed into New
York. Dragging his chain after him,
he paused on the boulder ut the foot of
Ilcssian Hill to rest before he contin.
ued his flight to the vast Adirondack
wilderness. The lamentations In tho
Hessian Hill rock are pointed out as
the marks of his chain. and the foot
prints on High Tar us further zorro.
borative evidence of the truth of this
tale. Another story relates that cave
man was approached from the rear
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.
penis legs. which were In row, one
behind the other indian file.
A famous professor on first viewing
the footprints advanced the theory
that they were made by the missing
link" before he shed his caudal ap-
pendage, which trailed in the prehis.
toric clay behind him while he scanned
tho surrounding landscape for some.
thing good for breakfast This ac-
counted for the indentutions 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 the
Devils Rock, and Croton people point
to the strange fact that nothing will
grow in the unholy footprints, while
the surface of the rock elsewhere is
covered with gray-green lichens and
thick moss. The Mohegans, who built
their signal fires on the top of Hessian
Hill before the first Dutch trader SET
tied there to give rum and firearms
for furs, regarded tho giant boulder
with deep. veneration. and believed
the footprints to have been made by
the Great Spirit when he created the
,uor1d