"The Water Devil" manuscript

The “Water Devil” manuscript contains one folder that holds the first fifty pages of the story entitled “The Water Devil: a Tale of Fact and Fiction,” as well as a note detailing the characters involved in the story. On the note, it is mentioned that the character that is the manager of the Watch Tower Inn in the story, Mr. Stephens, shares a resemblance to an actual manager of Watch Tower Inn, G.R. Stephenson. G.R. Stephenson was manager of Watch Tower Inn in 1918. The author of this manuscript is currently unknown.

The story follows narrator Joe as he assists with a police investigation on a recent stream of attacks at the Watch Tower Inn. A creature described as resembling Satan has been kidnapping innocent people and disappearing into the Rock River. The Deputy Sheriff Jack Wilson believes that Mr. Stephens, the manager of Watch Tower Inn, has hired someone to dress like the Water Devil in a publicity stunt to draw in larger crowds to the park. After witnessing the monster kidnap a woman with his very own eyes, Joe the narrator assists on the search for the Water Devil’s lair to see if it really is a creature, or if the Water Devil is simply a man in a mask. The manuscript ends with two chapters detailing the story of the Mathews family. The Mathews family was among the early settlers of the Rock Island area that befriended Black Hawk. Mathews's wife dies when he is passing through the Rock Island area. Black Hawk talks Mathews into staying in Rock Island so their children could play. Black Hawk is then given an order from the United States Government that he must give up his land and move into Iowa. Black Hawk comes to Mathews for help by asking Mathews to write to the President of the United States to explain that Black Hawk will not be leaving his lands. The author describes Black Hawk as being "simple minded" for believing that the President and Mathews are friends, but Mathews attempts to help anyway by placing a statement in the local newspaper that Black Hawk has no intention of leaving his land.