THE JAMESTOWN WEEKLY ALERT — SEPTEMBER 24, 1903
Kensal News: Wright Marks and Plummer Purington went down to Airwood Lake last Monday night hunting ducks and had an adventure which they will long remember. The fact that both of them had their heads shaved a short time ago is all that saved their hair from turning gray. They had found a good place to lie down in the grass on the west side of the lake and were waiting for the ducks to come and be killed, when they were suddenly startled by a roaring and hissing and a terrific splashing of water.
They started to their feet and the sight that met their gaze almost froze the blood in their veins. There, not a hundred feet away, wallowing about in the lake, was a ferocious looking monster about fifteen feet long with a horrible looking alligator-like head covered with scales and the jaws armed with long, curved tusks. The body was also covered with huge scales of a dirty yellow color. The creature had four legs and two long arms terminating in cruel looking claws that looked as though they were sharpened up for business.
As the boys leaped from their place of concealment the monster spied them and immediately disappeared in the water only to appear in a few minutes close to the shore. Two guns were immediately leveled and fired at the monster but he did not pause a second.
Emitting terrible blood-curdling roars he made for the boys and they were obliged to turn and fly for their lives. After a chase of half a mile the monster gave up and returned to the lake while the boys made the best of their way home. There is talk of organizing a party to thoroughly search the lake for the monster and capture him if possible. Airwood Lake is about seven miles southwest of Kensal and is quite a popular resort for picnic parties during the summer.
From— Jamestown Weekly Alert. (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. (N.D.)) Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
