Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-20
NJ BIG FISH

1 naQ charming wife. tive handsome
children, a comfortable income, a censid-
cradle practice, and for a solicitor q
clear conscience. All but the last | still
possess, but the loss Of that one item has
destroyed nay peace of mind and embit-
tered my whole existence. And yet L
cannot out think that there was great eX-
cuse for me. When man basely yields
TO temptation he is said 10 ''fall," but that
expression hardly applies TO my case. 1
was regularly pushed over by ether peo-
pie. But / will tell my painful story and
the reader shall Judge for himself.
My name is Marmaduke Howard Jones.
Dropping the Howard as tribe too ornate
for every day use, [ am known socially
and professionally as Marmaduke II.
Jones; and l have felt some little pride
IN the name, as being uncommon, not TO
say distingue. / do not mean to suggest
that | am by any means the only Jones,
and there are doubtless other Marina
dukes; but the tOUt ensemble, the cOmbi-
nation, Marmaduke ii. Jones, t0tuS, tereS,
dtQue rotundus. has always struck me as
possessing considerable artistic merit,
and as doing great credit to my gOdfathers
and godmothers. | flattered myself that
the combination was at any rate unique,
and certainly never supposed, until few
weeks since, thRt there could possibly be
another individual, still less another men,
Der Of my own profession, rejoicing in the
very same name. The reader viii, there
fore, understand that the suppOsition OF
mistaken identity was the last that was
likely to occur to me when, on opening
my letters one morning a couple Of months
ago, l found the following from an old
friend resident in Yorkshire:
TIPcAT, YORKs.
Dear Oh Bay: Just seen a notice Of your
splendid success and hasten to congratulate
- fr=r~r frrutr ..
us very shortly. | know Of a wh0pper, not
far from here, that should like you to have
a shy at. Kind regards to the wife. Ever
yours sincerely, SAM IHOROGOOD.
l stared at the letter in amazement. /
had recently got verdict in a rather up
hill case of Grumley vs.. Pipkin, but it
was not a matter Of much public interest
aud was scarcely likely to have made any
marked sensation in a small town in
Yorkshire. Still, this being the only avail
able explanation, l adopted il. The allu-
sion to the ''Whopper" whom / was in
vited to have a shy at was mysterious;
but / concluded that it referred to some
wrong-doer Of high degree POSSIBLY the
parson or the squire who had been riding
rOughshed over his humber neighbOrs,
and whom ThOrogOod desired, in country
phrase, to ''have the law off, put the
letter aside and went on with my other
correspondence. Presently l came to a
still more mysterious epistle:
BOUNDERBY, NEAR TIvERTOS.
Sir: Having seen the report of yOgr recent
achievement, trust you viii pardon my in
curing what fight you are IN the habit OF
using. / feel that / am taking liberty in adj
dressing total stranger on such subject,
but our mutual interest in the same pursuit
must be my excuse.
/ nclose stamped envelope for reply.
! remain your obedent servant.
WILLIAM P0DHoRE.
sEGrumley vs.. Pipkin must have made
more noise than | imagined" | solilO-
quized. ''But what on earth does the
man mean by his flight and our mutual
interest in the same pursuit? Does he
think I'm a member of the -Erial Naviga-
ton Society? AS he has sent a stamped
envelope Tor reply, l suppose he must have
one, 50 here goes:
80 FURNIvAL's INN.
Dear Sir: am in receipt Of your letter, but
haven't a notion what IT means. Please eX-
MARMADUKE II. JONES.
The next letter l came to was from
brother solicitor on professional business,
but i'm L. s. the writer said: Accept
my congratulations on your big fish. 1
had no idea you were such a sportsman
big fish, Here's another lunaticw l
calculated; but at this moment | was in
terrupted by the entrance of a client.
Alter we Ddu ulSiJUotQ OIL Ills Du5lut5S, nC
remarked, as he stood up to take his
leave:
Everybody is talking about that big
pike Of yours. Pm not a fisherman nv
self, but / infer that it was very swell
achievement. Allow me to congratulate
yOu.'
What on earth are you referring to-"
/ exclaimed.
"Why, that big pike that you caught
Of rrrI,a, III
such place. saw it mentioned in one Of
the papers. You didn't know you were
so famous, perhapsD
81 certainly did not. The thing must be
a hoax. j never caught pike in my life,
and don't intend to. But now / begin TO
understand some extraordinary letters
which / have received this morning. Some
rascally practical joker has started the
report, ] suppose, to put ne to the trouble
Of cOntradicting it; but 1 won't give him
that satisfaction"
ssThen you haven't caught a big Ash at
all|' said my visitor. "Well, thought
such feat was hardlyin your line" And
he took his leave with a slightly injured
air, as though / had swindled him out OF
a cOngratulatiOn under false pretences.
/ went on with eperusal Of my letters
and dismissed the matter from my mind.
But It was not to be so easily got rid Of.
When / went into the street every other
person / met alluded in some shape or
other to my "big pike" OF course 1
FASTENED TO explain that the report was
groundless, and that l had not caught any
pike at all But my protestations were
received in manner { - use familiar
phrase 10 make a saint swear. / do not
suppose for a moment that a saint could
or would swear, but, if he ever did, | can
not conceive any proyocatiOn which would
more fully justify him in doing SO. Where
my assurances were credited, my interlo-
cutOrs made it quite clear that had gone
down fifty per cent. or so in their estima-
ton, some even indicating by their man
ner that they regarded me as downright
impOstor and believed me to have spread
the report myself in order to gain an I'M
founded reputation for craftsmanship.
Others disregarded my denial and evil
IDENTIFY believed that had captured big
fish, but from a mean reluctance TO eX-
plain how / did it, or some other nefarIOus
reason, thought proper to disown my
achievement. Both parties evidently re-
gaTded me as a contemplate sort OF Eel
low: the one set for not having caught the
fish, the other for having caught ii and
not sticking to it like man. At last, so
sick was l of being disbelieyed and looked
down upon, or believed and looked down
upon notwithstanding, that when ] met
my friend Brown in the city one after
noon and he began as usual, Il say, old
fellow, what about the big fish, ! saw
all about il in the papers," l did not
take the trouble to contradict him, but
YEARLY said, sob yes, rather big thing,
wasn't it?" and forthwith changed the
subject to more cOngenial matters. We
parted, and the same afternoon l ran
against Robinson. CAB. JONES'" he said;
Il met our friend Bro yn this morning
and he was telling me all about your big
Fl n. You always were q lucky dog. Such
1 ings don't come in my way" Having
a owed Brown to believe in the legend,
nd not very well give him the lie, so to
So TX, to Robinson, so again acquiesced
in vague kind Of way and changed the
subject as soon as possible, hoping to hear
no more of the matter But | was disap-
pointed. Within the next two or three
days ! met at least half a dozen friends
who claimed to have had particulars from
either Brown or Robinson, and, having
let the thing 60 so far, had not the cOur-
age to undeceive them. But Nemesis was
beginning to pursue me. AS the poet
justly remarks / forget for the moment
what poet, or his exact words, but-he
must have been man in the first rank OF
the profession)-
'Ah. what a tangled web we weave
When once we venture to deceiyeW
Remorse had begun to set in. ] began
positively to go round back streets in or
der to avoid meeting friends. / lived in a
morbid dread of the subject of fish crop