National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1880-01-14
MISCELLANEOUS.
sOMErnTNa on ~ EEU.
The Creature that IL Said 10 Have Beer
Taken Out OF a Drain In Long Island.

|
| New York SUM-
Some fifteen years ago q drain on the Della
| mater estate In Huntington, l.. l., was repaired,
| and new gratings were put In at each end.
| For the past few years the drain has seemed to
| be gradually filling up again. At times il
| has refused to carry of the water, aud at
other times the passage has seemed to be com
| paratively FREQ from obstruction. These
| things puzzled the foreman of The estate, for.
| being man Of experience in that part Of
| hydraulics covering drains aud drainage, he
| could not understand why the duct should DO
| intermittent in its functions. He was still
further mystiiied at times, lie says by noises
| proceeding from tho drain, even when there
| was no water running through IL.
| The intervals of uscossness became longer
and came nearer together, until 1t was deemed
| necessary to take out the gratings aud make
| thorough repairs on the drain. Tho foreman
devoted day 10 this task last week. lie re-
| moved the upper CRATE, and began to probe
| the drain. To his astonishmont he found that
| the obstruction was alive; there was no other
! solution Of the noises that came from tho
opening as soon as he began the probing pro-
cess. lie at once began digging the drain
| open, and In short time he says, he sue
! ceeded In laying bare about thrce feet Of a
| creature which he thought to be o monster eel.
II was the tail, and it was so large that il
| nearly filled the drain. He grasped II with
his hands and tried to pull it out; but tho
| creature slowly drew away from him, aud
seemed about to disappear in the drain. lilo
picked upa stick, and gave the creature sharp
| blow; but IL continued to draw Itself into tho
hole. Quickly graspinR an old axe, the fore
man chopped of some two feet of the tail de-
termined to obtain specimen Of the creature
that was obstructng the drain
AS soon as had hacked off the animals
tail, 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 tho axe, cutting
OIL Il section of him. You see had no idea
how long he was going to continue showing
himself out, and knew that If 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 We'll, when
! cut off the second piece the animal seemed TO
be provoked like, and he backed out fastor
than before. | didn't let him get far out be.
fore hit him another clip. This made him
mad, and he began showing himself out of the
drain as though he was determined to ind out
what was happening ut the latter end of him.
For short time lie made II lively work for
me, he backed out so fast But / rockOned
could hack away as long rs he could back out,
aud so kept whackng him upinto lengths OF
about two feet or eighteen inches. The pieces
had cut off began to twist about, aud IL
looked rs though had opened u volcano that
was bclching forth gigantic cuts Of eel for fry
ing in some great frying. pan
AT length continued the candid foreman,
the creature sort O. stuck in the hole, aud
then the head part popped out. 1t was as big
around as the hole in the drain, aud the eyes
were MS big as a sleeps. / had sort Of Curl
osity to know about how much Gel had cut
of from the creature, so threw tho pieces
into hand cart that had brought the tools
out in, and wheeled them up 10 the house.
Then flung them on TO the ground, aud after
they had got pretty near through wiggling,
laid them out end to end, and measured tho
length of them. They measured u little short
of twenty feet, but some OF the pieces didn't
lay quite straight, You see. | think wheu tho
creature stretched himself he must have been
fully twenty feet long or upward. That drain
had been closed up at both ends about fifteen
years. and tho eel had been growing all that tmo.
No wonder he grew to good size. The stuff
| in drains is what cells grow fat on. Thoy grow
pretty good.sized under wharves and in such
places but there is no place like a drain for
an eel"
Where are the pieces p
81 don't know what was thinking about
| but fed them to the hogs. Since then II has
occurred TO me that somebody else might not
| want to take my word without measuring the
| pieces but, You see, thoy were sort OF uneasy,
aud thought I'd just heavs em into the pen
aud make sure that they didn't get away and
| be wasted, An eel is always liable to get
| away until he is eaten"