Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1891-09-23

his clothes were the same, but there was
an expression of supreme content upon
his tanned face as he sat on the edge OF
the wharf yesterday afternoon and let his
legs dangle down, says the Albany En-
press. In his mouth was a pipe that had
been new and sweet in the dear dead long
ago, and in his right hand he held one
end of a fish line. The other end was
held down upon the bottom of the river,
a long distance from the shore.
"Any luck, Captain p asked young
man who was strolling by. 1t is consid-
cred the proper thing to call every man
along the river who is old and weather.
beaten Captain"
"Nop-they amt a bitin' much to-
day"
"They don't bite much anyway these
days do they"
"Nop-not like they useter. Tuseter
be sot could come down here an catch
basketful in mebbe an hour or So"
"That was quite spell ago, wasn't it p
"Yep, quite a spell ago. member
one time-hello!"
The old man had given his line VI
cious jerk and was now all excitement.
"Got a bite, Captain p
"Yep, an he's whopper, too. | amt
quite sure whether I've hooked him. Yep,
there he is. | feel him a-wigglin' on the
line. He's great big, striped bass. =
All this was said in sort of stage whis-
per.
"How do you know what kind of a
fish it is ?"
Chow do | know ?" repeated the old
man, as he began slowly and deliberately
to haul in his line, and he threw supreme
pity for the ignorance implied by the
question into his voice. "How do |
know? Why, young man, | can tell jes'
what kind of fish It's by the way he bites.
Now there's an eel he kind'o makes lit
tie bites o pecks at yer line, an then he
takes holt an swims away with yer line
sort o easy like Then there's the suck
er: he jes' sucks yer bait an ye can't
hardly feel him pull. An then there's
the yellow perch he takes holt right
AWAY and swims away like a streak"
"And how does the striped bass bite p
interrupted the young man.
"Oh, he monkeys around whole lot,
and then he takes holt all of sudden
and swims away down stream. know
ed right away when this feller took holt
he was a striped bass. | never make no
mistake. ="
Just then the old mans catch came to
the surface. 1t was an old boot.
1t was in well-known hotel in Ban
gor, says the Ne,cs of that city. A party
of gentlemen were conversing on one sub
iect and another. During a lull in the
conversation one gentleman noticed a scar
on the hand of another, and interrogated
him as to the cause. The other answered
that he received it in very curious way,
and told the following story in regard to
it:
got that wound in the battle of Get
tysburg. l had been fighting all day and
felt very tired, and so sat down on rock
and shot from there.
was just loading up my gun when a
long, lean, lank fellow darted by me,
making for the woods like streak of
creased lightning. ! up with my gun
and let drive at him, but he didn't drop,
and, as had just shot 800, and didn't
want to lose the thousandth, | started af-
ter him.
never saw a man run so fast in all
my adventurous life, and could see that
1 was gaining upon him, but every once
in a while l lost sight of him behind a
tree or rock.
noticed a lull in the fight, and glanc-
ing aside, | saw that both armies had
stopped fighting, and were straining their
eyes to see the race.
That raised my courage, and forgot
all about being tired Just then l made
squirt of speed, and as l did so / felt
something strike my hand, which spread
out like the fan of windmill.
Well to make long story short l
caught up with him and was about to
collar him when he turned about and
tried to stab me. lodged his blow, and
Just then something hit him and he fell
over dead.
sat down beside him to rest, and as |
did so noticed blood trickling down my
hand. On closer investigation / found
that there was bullet hole in my palm.
The dead man had a bullet In his