Gorilla Loose in Maryland
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 19th, 2011
GORILLA LOOSE IN MARYLAND.
Mighty Fear Comes Over the People and Tall Tales Are Told.
RIDGLEY, Md.,– Several weeks ago a gorilla escaped from a circus
at Seaford, Del., and has since been reported at various places on the
peninsula. Its probable presence has caused terror among farmers and
travellers on the public roads. John Dyer said last night that he saw a
strange-looking animal which looked like the gorilla. It was on the edge of
a “cripple,” as a tree-grown marsh is called, on the west side of the Great
Choptank River, a few miles from here. Dyer says that he first observed the
animal about 11 o’clock in the morning, and that it fled into the cripple.
He says he saw it again about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.
Dyer was visited to-day by Rudolph Cephus of Denton, a mighty hunter of
these parts. Cephus was on a ducking expedition, armed with a heavy ducking
gun and he tried to trace the gorilla in the hope of getting a shot at it.
He discovered some “queer tracks,” he says, resembling those of a bear, but
was unable to come to close quarters.
An effort is being made to gather a party to go in search of the gorilla in
the morning and to scour the cripples along the Choptank. The excitement
among the negroes along the Delaware line since the escape of the animal has
been intense and they have kept closely at home at night.
Frank Biles, colored, was nearly killed on Tuesday night of last week. He
says the gorilla did it. He was attacked near Bethel campground, Delaware.
Biles was riding a wheel to Cannons, when he was attacked. The animal threw
him from the wheel and dealt him a heavy blow with his fist. The man pulled
his revolver and shot twice, making his escape to Cannons. Upon reaching
Cannons he was unable to speak for some time. A crowd gathered about the
man. His clothing was in shreds and an ugly wound was over the ear. A
posse of fifty men was formed t o apprehend the animal, but could not come
up with it.
Source: New York, New York, The Sun, December 4, 1901, p. 10
Thanks to Chuck Flood for this account.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Wow! I’m shocked at the way they used to report new a hundred years ago. They’d be driven out of business today for blatant identifying of color of the witnesses. Although this is pretty near the Mason-Dixon line so I really shouldn’t be so surprised.
And “heavy ducking gun” is he really talking about hunting a ‘gorilla’ with bird shot? Or am I misinterpreting this jargon. And I assume ‘wheel’ is referring to a bicycle of some sort?
It is interesting though, particularly if the ‘gorilla’ was a BF, it certainly appeared to be aggressive.
My lazy Googling indicates that 1) “a heavy ducking gun” was (is?) used to hunt waterfowl and 2) “riding a wheel” does (did?) mean riding a bicycle. Frankly, I wouldn’t go after a gorilla with anything less than a .450 Nitro Express.
…but I’d probably just stay inside and pull the covers over my head…