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The Toronto "Globe", of Tuesday, June 25, 1872, reported the following peculiar news item which we thought our readers might enjoy. The parentheses are ours. "Another sea 'monster', says a Buffalo paper, has been discovered, and has produced the usual (!) amount of excitement. This time, the 'critter' was seen in Lake Ontario. The citizens of Olcott, Niagara County (New York), aver that the recent agitation of the waters of that lake was caused by a huge serpent. They say that their attention was drawn to the lake by a low, rumbling sound. About three miles out from shore, the water seemed to be greatly disturbed, much as if an explosion had taken place underneath. But, in about ten minutes after this phenomenon was observed, a bellowing sound was heard, and a monster shot up from the midst of the boiling waters to a distance of fifty feet, and then fell back again. After lashing the waters into a foam, the monster went off to the northward. They attribute the disturbances at Charlotte and Oswego to the antics of this monster in the water near the shore."
Perhaps we should add sea monsters to the list of perils which confront lake sailors in the execution of their daily duties, although we would not wish to impinge upon the fame of the inhabitant of the well-known Scottish loch. If nothing else, the news item speaks well for the quality and quantity of the spirits which must have been available at the tavern in Olcott, New York. The article comes to us from the collection of our late member Willis Metcalfe, through the courtesy of Lorne Joyce.
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