The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-01-29
AN CRAB.
A San francisco Crustascean That Knew
His Business.

Ills 1Dusl1cSS
A number of the passengers on the
two o'clock Oakland boat yesterday
witnessed an interesting and curious ex-
hibition. A man, having every appear
ance of being a sailor, stood on the low
er forward deck beside a large pail
which was filled with sea water. In
this pail was a crab of enormous size,
and to judge by the punches of barnacles
on its back, of considerable age. The
sailor was a genial fellow and appeared
to be proud OF his pet. He first informed
the surrounding passengers that the
crab was the humble possessor OF the
name of ''Ned," and that in addition to
owning a name he would answer to that
name. This was received with incredu-
lous smiles on the part of the on-lookers.
The crab could be observed lying mo,
%tionless at the bottom of the pail, as APP
parently contented with his position as
though he was delving in the mud at the
bottom of the bay The sailor kneeled
beside the pail and gave a sub
dued whistle and then muttere
'.Ned, Ned" twice. Instantly there
was a commotion in the water, as the
crab wriggled its joints and bobbed
around like a spider impaled on the
point of a needle. This motion was
kept up until it succeeded in getting
two claws over the edge of the pail. II
then tried to draw itself up. The sailor
suddenly ceased whistling, whereupon
':Ned' dropped into his motionless at
titude, only to rouse up again upon 4
| repetition of the whistle and the calling
of his name. At last he got a grip upon
the pail with one of his claws and drew
himself up almost clear of the water.
His master came to his relief and laid
him out upon the deck. Here he strut
ted around in his awkward fashion to
the infinite amusement of everyone. He
i was apparently delighted, and when his
master stretched out a hand to him he
| stroked it with his claws, and even pre-
I tended to nip" it as kittens ''play bite"
but it was noticeable that he did not
! close on it. When any of the passen-
| gers approached, it appeared sensible
| of the difference between them and his
master, and drawing up his extremities
lay sullenly in one place. Upon being
asked whether '.Ned' could do any
more wonderful things, the sailor re-
piled that he could. He dropped Ned"
into his pail to his crabship's satisfac-
ton.
Then the pleased owner drew from his
pocket a piece of thin rope. This he
stretched between two of the deck posts
about three feet from the deck. The
crowd of spectators which was now
swelled by many from the upper deck
who had heard that something extraor-
binary was going on, pressed around,
eager to see what was the mex action
on the programme. The sailor plucked
Med" out of his natural element once
more and hung him to the rope; his
crabship clutched the line tightly with
one of his nippers. His master then
commenced a low monotonous whistle,
and 'Ned put himself in motion. He
evidently knew just what was expected
of him, and stretching out his spare nip
per he got hold of the rope a space
along. Then, wriggling his claws, he
released his first hold and caught the
rope again close to his second ''nipper.'
In this fashion he worked himself along
to about the middle of the rope, when
he stopped. His master held his hands
beneath him, and he dropped into them
exhausted. The sailor explained that
Ned became weak after he was out Of
the water very long. Ned's achieve.
ment was hailed with delight by the
passengers, and many ladies pressed
forward to look at him as he lay in the
bottom of his pail.-San Francisco Call.