The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-05-15

made by the department. of justice to
hold special terms of court adjacent to
camps and environments.
| mating the captains nerve-racking
experience
The eyes of the Deep Sea Mystery
are unusually small for so huge an
animal as this. with other character
istics displayed by the creatures Wis
cera, indicate that it inhabited the
abysmal depths of the ocean where
little If any sunlight ever penetrates
and eyes are of little use. This must
| be true, for were it a surface dweller
undoubtedly some mature specimens
must long since have been discovered
disporting themselves in these waters
! by one of the thousands of mariners
, who have constantly traversed these
! seas during the past 400 years
Since no one has ever made any
! such momentous discovery the cues
| ton naturally arises how came this
! creature to be swimming in shallow
water where Capt. Thompson by the
| merest chance discovered it,
Science answers that it must have
/ been thrown to the surface by some
| unusual submarine disturbance. such
| as a volcanic eruption might bring
L
pressure exerted by the water at the
| great depth which it inhabited its
| body became distended with air and
Leases, its diving apparatus was rup-
tured and the animal was unable TO
/ dive. During the many hours of It's
| frantic struggle to escape its pursuers
| it never once attempted to dive but
kept TO the surface till 1T became ex-
hausted and was finally slain.
| Thousands View Monster.
/ The skin is three inches thick, scale
| less and SO tough that the many bull
| let's fired at it hardly penetrated it
| at all. The liver alone weighed 200
| pounds and 10 barrels of formalde-
| hyde and other disinfectants were re-
| quired to preserve the skin while a
/ wood and steel framework was con-
/ structed along the lines of the fish
/ proportions by Prof. J. s. Warmbeth.
/ one of the most skilled taxidermists
| in the country, who had been recon-
mended by the Smithsonian Institu-
| ton at Washington to Capt. Thomp-
| son being eminently fitted to do
/ the work in the most satisfactory
! manner A number of able assistants
were pressed into service and after
| weeks of arduous labor the Deep Sea
Mystery was successfully mounted
| and made ready for exhibition.
! News of the strange fish travelled
| far and wide, and although L was
| midsummer and Miami practically de-
/ populated of tourists which form a
great part of it's population, when the
| monster was landed more than 5000
people crowded the docks and lined
| the river banks in order to see the
| wonder prize Everybody in Miami,
| including the mayor, councilmen,
ministers, merchants. and, in fact.
/ practically everybody in the. county
| saw the fish during the few days it
lay on the docks.
Many scientists learned in fish lore
went to Miami for the special purpose
| of examining the strange creature,
| and, if possible, to classify it. But
no one was able to tell what it was
| or to what order of the finny tribe it
belongs. So far as is known IL is the
| first and only specimen of the kind
ever seen by the eye of man unless
| indeed, some far off progenitor of this
creature of mystery appearing in the
| nick of time, saved Jonah from u
watery grave and afterwards to spew
him out on dry land when he Had
repented.
Considering that the Mediterranean
| is a semi tropic sea with a tempera-
ture about like that of the Caribbean
sea, and with a fauna of similar
| type, such a surmise is by no means
| impossible.
Capt. Thompson is now preparing
to exhibit his prize throughout the
entire country and after exhibiting
| the fish here for only a few days viii
| sail with his family for Mobile and
New Orleans
| His itinerary will include all the
leading cities and towns of the Mis-
| sissippi river and its tributaries on
the completion OF which he viii go
| via the Chicago canal into the Great
| Lakes, thence TO Buffalo and the Erie
canal TO the Hudson river on to New
| York City and the Atlantic seaboard
| and back to Miami.
Capt. Thompson, as may well be
i imagin is of a most interesting per-
sonality and although very quiet and
unassuming in his manner. is always
glad TO meet the public and relate in
/ person the many thrilling details OF
his wonderful exploit-Ady.