Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-10
TRAPPING THE TURTLE,
WIFE e the Alderman s FRvorlte FSod
sCAught-lmppress4Ons of
u Turt,er.

u tttI'
New York Sun
"No, they Sin't ~ palm" said OH
ancient .kipper a. the Fulton matke!
dock, as he arranged a piece CT sosnt.
ling under the head OF q blear. Q od
turtle that Wal lying In the sun. 81.
looks cfusl to keep them turned OF
their backs, but water is dashed over
EN- every hour or SO, and l reckon
they have All easy time OF II; bat 1t lie
cruel to keep 'em GU. la the sun before
q restaurant, and tack a picard on
tie sheil, To be served this day
That, says 1, is tskin' all undue sd.
vantage, but you cane expect feelin's
In men that deal In food; all they
care for is to fill you up. I'm down ON
en-"
How 500 asked his companion
81 struok here o month ago, replied
tho skipper, "on my smack, f;om KY
West, co l had to shift HE for my.
self. / signed papers with q roster
ant man up street here TO provide
three ,qnare meals q day, and one day,
| bein' fond Of turtle, l brought in o
young green that l had kept, and re-
quested that 1t be made Into soup.
Well, the next day l dropped into
the market, and there was that very
turtle for iale. Ye see, l had my pIi
vate mark on him. l didn't let on,
but on the way to dinner l picked up
an old shipmate OF mine, now on the
police force, and invited him to Try
the soup. Wall, tho waiter brought
In some black stuff, and ss soon AZ I'd
tasted 1t, Salt junk, seasoned, 1saYs;
'send the boss Out he came, a tmll.
Ing all over, but l brought him up
with q round turn. Says I: This
ere soups kind O. weak I reckon
says I; chat turtle kind o wsded
through, and he went 30 fast tina. he
caught up with Fulton market; and
says I, $40 down or the turtle, or
says I, Iyo with my friend here vhc,'
says l, 'is a particular friend O the
the mayor WALL" said the old man,
with a grin, she planked down the $40
and we walked out. It's windy when
they get the bilge on old Sam. No salt
hoss mock turtle for me-"
"rhen you are In the turtllng busi.
nees2' asked his companion.
"Wall, sort O. half an half" was
the reply. I'VE fish In the Havana
trade all winter. and In the spring, if
we come north, fetch all the turtles
we Jan. There's always.a market for
EN-. Where do we catch emf Wall,
mostly round Msrkeys (Marquisas)
Togoses (Tortugas). Then We buy q
likely lot from the Concb crswls at
Key West. Sport} Wall, some
thinks It's sport. I used to think 1t
sport to go crow shootin' when l YVES q
yonker, but when the old man sot me
out In the corlf fl ,ld to shoot CROWS all
day 1t didn't reem 30 funny. So it's
with turtlin'. Ye git surftted with it.
About this month around tho Tugoses
Is q good time, and 20 on up to mid.
summer, The keys are about six OF
seven in number, nothln' on 'em but
sand, pusley, and bay cedar bushes
Ga Garden key there's a big fort, but
there's only two keys that turtles come
ashore or, and why that's 30 I'm hlest
if 1 tell. On Loggerhesd key, to thl
westward, the loggerheads come up
aud / never seen q green turtle there
yet, but en- East key, about five miles
eff, there you get all the green turtle
you want.
Whats the differenct2 Wall,
you had the two steak, you'd tell lik
enough. The loggerhesd is bigger
tougher, and uglier, and bring sbou
one third what the green turtles do
the latter bein' fine form, delecate.like
Tie logge, head 10 jest like an old NeN
Bedford whaler, while the gree turtl
Is a regular clipper ship. Wall, a
to bow we cstch EN-. We run dow
to the keys, and lay the smack on, an
late In the afternoon put ashore In tn
dipgles and make camp In the bushes
Then one hand takes a walk round tn
beach close to the water; In that wa
he strikes the tracks up, at onct TO
lows 'em up, aud 30 finds the nes'
Eggs good2 Wall, it's a matter
taste. I've seen turtle eggs on tn
galley stove forty-eight hours and the
never changed q bit; cookin' don
affect 'em a mite, and the only way
L. saw en- eaten, was when they wer
taken out of the turtle half formed
lookin' like yellow grapes, and drie
In the sun unit! hard, and eaten lik
cheese; they kind O. taste like 1t.
"Turtles don't generally com
ashore until after dark. Every twent
/, minutes or 30 one of the hands take
a round, and when he comes to O trac.
5 easy to see by moonlight or stars U
he rushes, and If the turtle Is lsyin
) abe won't move, and you've eotto wal
till che gifts through: but If she's is
I through or about diggin' she'll tori
and make tracks for the water In
way as Is a caution to sinners. Ia
first time l tackled mi she got tb
start on me, and 1 ran up benin,
juat in time to catch about a barrel c