Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-01-15
SOMETHING OF AN EEL.
The Creature that is Said to Have Been
Taken Out of "A Drain I'm Long Island.

IN. !. sum-
Some fifteen years ago a drain on the Del
amater estates in Huntington, l.. L., was re-
paired, and new grntings were put ia at
each end For the past few years the drain
has seemed to be gradually filling up again.
At tilt,,s II has refused TO carry off the wa
ter, and at other times the passage has
seemed to be comparatively free from OBJ
struction. These things puzzled the fore
man of tine estate, for, being man Of expe-
rience in that part of hydraulics covering
drains and drainage, he could not under
stand why the duct should be intermittent
In its functions. He was still further mysti-
fed at times, he says, by noises proceeding
from the drain, even when there was no wa
ter running through II.
The intervals ot uselessneSs became longer
aud came nearer together, until it was
deemed necessary to take ont the gratings
and make thorough repairs on the drain.
The foreman devoted a day to the task last
week. lie removed the upper CRATE and
began TO probe the drain. To his astonish-
ment he found that the obstruction was
alive there was no other solution to the
noises that came from the opening as soon
| 10 he began the probing process lie at
once began digging the drain open, and
in a short time, he says, he sue
ceeded in laying bare about three
| feet of u creature which he thought
to be monster eel. l. was the tail, and it
| was so large that it nearly filled the drain.
| He grasped it with his hands, and tried to
pull il out. but the creature slowly drew
away from him, and seemed about to disap-
pear in the drain. He picked up a stick,
| and gave the creature a sharp blow, hut il
| continued 10 draw itself into the hole.
| Quickly grasping an old axe, the foreman
chopped off some two feet of the tail, deter
mined to obtain a specimen of the creature
| Alat WAS obstructing the dram
"As soon rs | had hacked oil the animal $
TAIL p" said the foreman, the thing began
backing out of the hole, ! waited till he
had run about two feet more out, and then
/ fetched him another clip with the axe,
cutting off another section of hsm You see,
j had no idea how long he was going tocon-
| tinue showing himself out, and | knew that
| IL | didn't let him get more than two Or
| three feet out of the hole at me at once, ]
could keep even with him unless the axe
| gave out. Well, when | cut off the second
| piece the animal seemed 10 be provoked like,
and he backed out faster than before.
| didn't let him get far out before hit him
another clip. This made him mad, and Ind
/ began showing himself out of the drain as
though he was determined TO find out what
| was happening at the latter end of him. Fol
| short time he made IL lively work for me
| he backed out so fast But | reckoned that
| ] could hack away as lony sss he could back
out, and so / kept TiIacking him up into
lengths af about go feet or eighteen inches
The pieces / had cut of began TO tHis
about, aud it looked as though had openeC
a volcano that was belching forth gigantic
cuts of eel for Crying in some great iryinl
pan.
''At length" continued the candid fore
man, "the creature sort O. stuck in the hole
and thea the head part popped out. 1t wa
as big around as the hole in the drain anC
the eyes were as big as n sleeps l had
sort of curiosity to know about how mucl
eel had cut off from the creature, so
threw the pieces into handcart that ha'
brought the tools out in, and wheeled then
up to the house. Then / flung them on l.
the ground, and after they had got prett.
near through wiggling / laid them out
end 10 end, and measured the length q
them They measured little short c
twenty feet, but some of the pieces didn
lay quito straight, you sec. | think whe
the creature stretched himself he must hav
been fully twenty feet long or upward
That drain has been closed up at both end
about fifteen years, and the eel has bee
growing ali that time, No wonder he gre'
. To a good size. The stuff in drains is whl
eels grow fat on. They grow pretty goo
sized under wharves and in such places, bu
there is no place like drain for an eel.