The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-04-28
SOME CATFISH STORIES.
The y0racity of Mississippi Catfsh-Eat-
Ing Iron Chains. Tin Cans, Etc.
tst, Louis Republican,


Tst Louis Republican,
Across the river on the Illinois side several
old fishermen were found and all of them
were perfectly willing to relate everything
they knew and had ever heard about catfish:
About halfway between East st. Louis and
Venice the reporters came across an old gray
haired man named Kearns, who lives in st.
Louis. He was sitting on an old decayed log
near the bank, nearly asleep-for it was a
rather warm and pleasant day-and not pay
ing much attention to the dozen or more lines
he was fishing with
"Did you ever have any trouble catching
catfish" we asked; that is, do they ever get
away from YOU, or bite your hand when you
take them off the hook p
"No; only | lose lots OF hooks by, the
plaguey things. There's nothing they like to
do better than to run off with hook, and II
there's any rocks around they are sure to get
in among 'em, and then you might as well
get another hook for you'll never get the fish
or your hook either Talk about them biting.
though, they'll eat most anything. One
spring and another fellow was down below
Cairo SEEMING, and one day some town folks
came do wn near our camp to fish. They had
a tin bucket with their dinner in 1t, and to
keep 1t cool they hung it to q tree on the edge
of the bank, so 1t would touch the water where
it was shady. We was just making q haul
about twenty yards below, when one OF the
their dinner-bucket, and blamed il it wasn't
gone. About two days after we hauled In
biz catfish. and after we had killed him we
felt something hard in his belly. and cut him
open to see what 1t was. | didn't think cat
fish were such things for eatin' until then
but when we found the very tin bucket them
folks had the day before ] give up. The
bucket was fattened some and the lid
had come off. but the viotuals was oil
inside yet, so the old fish didn't get much
think it was in the year of 1865, | caught
catfish up near Bissels point, and as
it wasn't very big thought I'd take 1T home
and eat 1t myself When | was cleaning 1t
that evening l found a woman,s hand !. in It's i
belly, with pretty near all the flesh off of it.
and gold ring on the first finger. From the
finger the ring was on and the size OF the
bones. I'm pretty certain it was woman s
hand an then the ring had Ella on the in
| side
ever find anybody that knew anything
about the ring ?"
mo; | told policeman about it, and it got
into the papers, but all | ever heard was
something about fellar up at Quincy who
said he knew all about it, and he never came
around. My wife wore the ring for two or
three years, but one day she lost it on the
| street"
| For further information Kearns referred the
newsman to French fisherman named An
ton Zier, who lives over in the bottom near
East Carondeet. Mr.. Zer lives in small
shanty near one of the numerous sloughs in
that vicinity, with small yard fenced in
with brush and logs, and q little spec OF q gar
den In one corner. He was found near the
house mending q seine.
In treply to an inquiry in regard to his
opinion of the vOracity of catfish, he replied
that he thought that they eat nearly every,
thing they could get hold Of. even iron and
other metals, and to prove his statement he
related the following incident: One spring,
while he was fishing down the river near
Cairo, he accidentally lost his boat chain
overheard one day, the chain having In some
way been loosened from the staple In the bow
of the skiff About q week afterwards he was
one day seining some two miles further up
the river and among the fish caught in one
haul was large catfish with part OF his boat
chain in it's belly and the other end hanging
from It's mouth.
He was certain that it was his chain from
certain marks that he had put ON it, and be
cause it was q new chain which he had pur
chased only short time before he commenced
fishing. The fish when caught appeared tt
be in rather helpless state, and suffering
somewhat from the amount OF metal he hat
taken into his stomach. Zier could not give
any reason why the fish should have ex
hibited such an appetite, other than that {
great many fish have n propensity for swal
lowing anything bright and shining, which
they mistake for mnnows, and he though
that probably this particular catfish had mis-
taken the bright chain for q school OF small
perch or cropdes.