THE STAR — JANUARY 6, 1904
A PRIZE YARN ABOUT A MIXED SEA MONSTER ♢ (Combination of Fish, Alligator and Bat Found.) ♢ Throws the old Sea Serpent Into the Shade—Gigantic Survivor of Prehistoric Ages is Over Sixty-five Feet Long, and
Equally at Home in Air or Sea.
Salt Lake, Utah.—A terrible, nameless, unclassified creature of the animal world is exciting the curiosity, wonder and fear of occasional visitors to Stansbury Island, in the southern portion of Great Salt Lake.
This monster, so strange and unnatural in appearance, has lately, it is said, been seen by several persons, but the best account of its characteristics and movement is given by Martin Gilbert and John Barry, two hunters who this week returned from an expedition over the island, in the course of which they studied the habits of this hitherto unheard of creature for three days.
The monster, which appears to be almost equally at home in the air, on the bench, or submerged in the briny waters of Salt Lake, is probably the sole survivor of a prehistoric species. It is doubtless the last representative of a family whose other members, dead ages since, have left the testimony of their existence in the primeval rocks of the mountains.
Arranging in concise form the description of this incredible relic of the animal world, from the accounts given by those who have observed it at close range, it seems in plain, unscientific language, a combination of fish, alligator, and bat.
