Brownwood Bulletin
Brownwood, Texas

October 8, 1920

REPORT THIS MONSTER SERPENT DITCHES “FLIVVERS” ALONG ROAD

By International News Service.

GREENSBURG, Indiana, October 8. – Prominent citizens in the southern part of Decatur County declare that stories regarding the depradations by a monster snake are not fables. They declare the reptile, reported to be from twenty-five to thirty-five feet long and proportionately large as to girth, has been seen several times in the community during the last few days.

Work has been virtually abandoned in some sections and men, armed with guns, are searching for the monster. A calf belonging to Robert Bishop is said to have been devoured by the snake and the entire community professes intense alarm.

Some residents advance the theory that the reptile escaped from some passing show. Others point to stories, emanating from Sullivan and Green counties, many miles distant, of a serpent of similar proportions which is declared to have ditched “flivvers” [Ford Model T automobiles] in encounters on the highways. The Sullivan-Green county reptile was described at widely separated points within a space of a few hours and it received much publicity – some of it more than half serious – in the newspapers.

Now the Decaturites are wondering if this monster donned figurative seven league boots and emigrated to this country.

Note – It will be observed that in the foregoing dispatch no mention is made of “white mule” [white corn whiskey].