St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-04
OLD TOMS SUICIDE.
Sad Fate Of Fish That Took to Drink
ing Beer.
AN oUT-AND-oUT DRUNKARD
BE Had the Jim-Jams and Destroyed
Himself Out OF Pure
Shame.
New York Sun.

New York Sun.
Some queer happenings have been re-
ported from different parts of the state
during the past week, but he queerest
of the lot is the death of fish that had
become confirmed drnnkard. The
owner of the fish, George Sauers, of
Leidy. Clinton county, declares that the
fish committed suicide. The fish was
an unusually large brook sucker. 1t
was caught in a net year ago this
month, and Oh account of its size it was
kept alive and placed in small fish
pond in Leidy's grounds. This pond is
shallow. and contained, besides the
big sucker, only few goldfish
and other ornamental fish. The
sucker soon became used to its new sur
roundingS, and grew to be as tame as
the gold fish. Its manner of feeding by
extending its queer SnOut and sucking
in any thing that came within its reach,
was cause for great amusement to all
who saw him. The sucker was given
the name of Old Tom, and one day Mr..
Sauers thought he would try an expert
ment with the fish. lie got small
nursing bottle, filled it with milk, and,
dlIdCHIIS
usual mOuthpiece at the detached end,
dropped the tube in the water III front
of the suckers nose. The fish gradu-
ally sucked the mouthpiece in. He
drew a mouthful of the milk down the
tube from the bottle, but evidently did
not like it, for he Spat out the tube and
moved away. Sauers then filled the
bottle with lager beer and tried Old
Tom with that. The beer seemed to
suit him, for he sucked in more than
half of what was in the bottle before he
gave up the tube. Sauers says that
THE SUCKER
cavorted around in the water as he had
never done before, and had high jinkS
among the other fish for half an hour or
more. After that he moved to one side
of the pond, close to the bank, and re-
manned there all the rest of the day,
scarcely moving. even when touched
with stick. Sauers was of the opinion
that the beer had put a head on the
sucker and that he was simply paving
the penalty for tampering with the flow
ing bowl, the same as every one else had
to do. The next day Old Tom seemed
to be all right, and he was offered some
beer. He took it like little man,
and this time almost swamped
the bottle, which held half
pint. He went off about the. pond
as full as tick, and showed
his hilariOusneSS by chasing the other
fish in dizzy sort of way, and by COM
ing to the top and turning reguIar-made
somersaults. This spree of Old Tom
did not seem to break him up as the
first one had done, although that his
coppers were hot was aptly shown next
morning by the avidity with which he
took in milk punch that SauerS had
thought would sit we'll on his stomach.
That punch. though, gave Old Tom all
early morning jag that made him ugly,
and he waltzed around the pond knock
ing the unoffending gold fish right and
left, and was evidently just crazy for
muss. This disposition on the part of
the inebriated sucker led him to grab
by the tail one of the big craw-
fish that were part of the orna-
mental life of the little pond. Old Tom
stuck out his Snout and seized the craW-
fish and tried to suck him in. The
crawfish is a creature that resents IA
miliarity of any kind, and this one
twisted itself around. shot out its left
claw and caught Old Tom by the jowl.
and Immediately followed with hitch
on his nose with the other claw. The
sucker dropped the crawfish like hot
iron. but the craWtiSh didn't drop the
sucker. and it wasn't until he had made
the liyeliest kind of circuit Of the
pond, carrying CONSERVATION to the
staid and dignified goldfish, that Old
Tom was able to shake off the foe he
bad been unwiSe enough to tackle.
THAT ENCOUNTER
seemed to sober the old fellow up,
and he retired to the shelter of big
stone on the bottom of the pond, and
remained in evident remOrseful con-
temptation until afternoon. Then he
sailed forth once more, and as he
sought with considerable eagerneSS the
spot where be had previously encOun-
tered the seductive rubber tube SanerS
took it for granted that he was looking
for ball. Sauers treated him to beer,
and he laid right to it until he had
emptied the bottle. He came around
looking rather wistful next morning,
and took with unfeigned delights cock
toll that SauerS mixed for him. Ever
since then. SauerS says, the big sucker
has been OH the downward path. He
came around every morning for his nip,
and if he didn't get it tore around the
pond like wild man. Beer got too mild
for him, and for the last three months
he has been loaded UP, on straight wins,
XIV. Sauer says he has tried several
times to break Old Tom of the habit he
himself had thoughtlesSly led him INTO
by gradually weakening the whisky
with water, and finally quit the supply
entirely, but one day SauerS went out
and saw Old Tom wild-eyed, and evil
IDENTITY filled with terror, shrinking back
as far as he could in little hollow in
the bank, us If trying to escape from
something that was menacing him.
Suddenly he rushed wildly out of the
hollow and tore like mad to little
stump and got behind it, He peeked
out around the stump and evidently
saw the thing that was troubling him in
pursuit, for he drew back and actually
crouched against the stump, while his
eyes almost hung out on his cheeks
with terror.
Hes got the jams!" said Sauers
''I've shut off his liquor too suddenly"
Sauers went and got Old Toms bottle
and gave him corker. After the old
fellow had got three inside of him his
nerves quieted down, and he came
round all right. Since then SaueTS
hadn't dared to shut Old Toms liquor
off. He required more and more every
day, land he took OIL a disreputably blear-
eyed and bloated condition. He SWelled
up half as big again as he was iii his
sober days, and the gold fish and other
nSh Ill lne ponu long ago CUT HIS Coili-
pany. If he happened to get anywhere
near them, four or five of them would
pounce upon him and give him the
bounce without delay. He got to be
an out-and-out bum, and began to feel
his disgrace about week ago. One
day last week, after he had been drink
ing heavily, he moved over toward the
big stone at the side of which he had
made his lounging place since he had
been ostracized by society in the pond,
and gazed at it in curious manner for
a minute or two. Then he made sud
den and swift rush forward and hurled
himself head first against the side of
the stone. The force Of the collision
threw OLD Tom back more than two
feet from the stone. He gave con-