The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-05-17
He Caught q Sucker.

"Bill Charters" said a man in a
Main street cigar store to a Stockton
(Cal. Mail reporter, was fond of fish,
ling. On winter evenings at home, il
he had nothing better to do, he would
haul out his fishing tackle and inspect
it thoroughly, and then, after making
two or three new-fangled fiy-hooks,
he'd place the outfit back in its box,
at the same time knowing that he'd be
unable to use his tackle for probably
six months
"Bill lived in Boston when I first
knew him. That was 18 or 20 years
ago. He was tinsmith by trade. ]
went up one night to see him con-
cerning some work he had been en-
gagged on for several days. Bill was
in the dining-room examining his
fishing tackle when / entered.
lone huge batch of hooks attracted
my attention. There was probably 80
very small eyehooks, all sewed secure
ly to jagged piece of cloth string
ldrilling-about the size of your hand
'..Bfll,' said 1, taking the hook-cov-
cred cloth in my hand, did you ever
catch any fish with this arrangement
"'Yes, SIR he answered with q
laugh, Il caught q sucker on that
collection last fall that weighed loo
pounds
"'Where and how I asked, hardly
knowing what Bill meant, as / had
never seen a sucker that weighed more
than three or four pounds.
| Just this way, replied Bill. One
the theater. When we reached the
/ hrY ag
people. l left my wife near the door
while struggled bravely to reach the
ticket window. 1 asked for two dress
circle tickets. and when put my hand
! in my pocket to get the money to pay
for them l discovered that my pocket
book was gone. "Stolen" exclaimed
l., and retreated.
MRS. Charters and walked home
She felt disappointed; she wanted to
see that play. A thought struck me
instantly, and just as quickly as possi-
| Bile l put my plan into execution.
Turning my money pocket inside out
/ hastily sewed all the small fishhooks
had to the inside of that pocket in
such manner that when my pocket
was showed back to its proper position
the barbs of the hooks stood out and
pointed downward.
81 took some more money with me
but placed it in another pocket
and again we started for the theater
There was still considerable of crowd
in the neighborhood of the box-office
and once more l began edging my
way through for the purpose of secur-
ing tickets. l allowed my fishhook
money pocket to take care of itself.
''Just rs. 1 was being handed my
ticket felt q bite. I attempted to
turn round, when found had hooked
a very fine-looking sucker in the shape
of a well-dressed man who wore q
shiny tile. paid no attention to his
tugging at my pocket, as knew after
one or two tugs he'd quit. When 1
reached my wife she said: ''William,
who is this gentleman with you?" 1
told her he was very particular friend
of mine.
IAN officer standing at the door ac-
companied my friend and me, at my
request, into an adjoining room. where
explained matters. l recovered my
lost pocketbook and greenbacks. It
was keeping company with seven other
similarly situated purses. l had to cut
the pocket out to hand the thief over
to the officer, but it was returned to
me after the doctor succeeded in get
ting the hooks out of the fellows
hand.
YES concluded Bill, she was the
biggest sucker / ever caught-must
have weighed at least 160 pounds, and
this is no fish story, either"