Thursday, September 30, 1920
THE HORROR OF THE WOODS
Following the accounts that have persisted for some months, the ape, baboon, gorilla, wild man, or terror that has been reported at various points from Pittsburgh south, has appeared and taken up his habitation in the dismal vastness of Black Mountain and there is something approaching a panic in that part of the county, to say nothing of the fearsome thing appealing strongly to the imagination of every school child in this city. Those who wander through the beautiful woods surrounding this town are not wholly at ease by reason of the reports that come in.
We have made some investigation and we hear that a hunter saw the beast some weeks ago in a blackberry patch on Black Mountain near the mouth of Day’s Run. He makes no mystery about it, and says that it is no more and no less than some ape-like animal escaped from a show and that it has been hanging around the bountiful berry patches of Williams River for food. He does not seem to have been particularly afraid of it, and succeeded in finding its nest and he said that the beast has collected a lot of railway spikes from the old abandoned railroad of the Campbell Lumber Company.
This carries out the theory of a half tame gorilla.
The next clear sight of the animal was by a woman who lives near the mouth of Day’s Run and she had a bad scare. She was some distance from her house and the thing pursued her. She ran home and slammed the door in its face and called on two watch dogs to drive the brute off. The animal waited until the dogs came up and seized and choked them to death, one after the other, in a few moments.
Repeated calls have come from that section for the State Police to come and capture or kill it. The appeal has even reached Elkins, the headquarters of the force stationed in this part of the State. The local force is preparing to go to the mouth of Day’s Run to investigate the matter one day this week.
THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS
“If the adjournment is taken, the Republican party will have to go into the Presidential campaign confronted by the necessity of dodging or apologizing for the sorriest record ever made by Congress in recent years.” – Washington Post
The Washington Post is anti-administration and is supporting Harding.
“The Senate has reached the nadir of its popularity.” – New York Times
“Congress stands at the lowest ebb of constructive ability ever known.” – Searchlight
“The present Congress has failed us in intelligent comprehension of every great question affecting the lives and the welfare of our people. It has failed with completeness and abandon.” – Samuel Gompers
“That Congress had not only wasted weeks of precious time while the world was waiting for such relief as only American legislators could afford and has displayed a degree of willfulness and selfishness which has astonished and embarrassed the nation seems beyond question.” – Christian Science Monitor…
MINGO MONUMENT
The Mingo monument to the vanished Mingo town was unveiled last Saturday with imposing ceremonies in the presence of a large assembly.
The monument is an artistic figure of an Indian chief set upon a pedestal. It is prominently located on a head land looking towards the setting sun.
It is about half a mile from the Confederate monument and it adds charm and interest to Mingo Flats which is naturally one of the beauty spots of the world.
Hon. S. H. Wood, the old residenter, was the active force behind the movement. The good people of Randolph had furnished a great feast for the occasion and all were well fed.
Addresses were made by Hon. H. G. Kump, Hon. Arthur B. Koontz, Judge W. S. O’Brien, Capt. W. H. Cobb, Hon. Roy Waugh, and Andrew Price, the last named being us, having been invited to attend and testify as to what had occurred some hundreds of years prior.
It was agreed that it was a historical meeting, and the crowd was asked to indicate its love for the study of history, and one person held up his hand, but for all that, the audience listened intently, drawing near on the sod to the great well of truth as it issued from the grand stand.
Liars are said to be divided into three portions for comparison, as liars, damned liars, and historians…