The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1894-05-10
A MAD ELECTRIC EEL.
Tho Creature Got Frantic and Caused Ter.
rOr In the Market.


Tho Creature Got Frantic and Caused Ter.
rOr In the Market.
A feroeious eel attacked a crowd Of
people in Center Market the other day
The furious fish created a panic, but
fortunately no lives were lost The
police were called out, and responded
promptly, but fortunately the intense
excitement subsidized,
At one of the large fish booths in
Center Market the other afternoon
speckled trout were swimming in the
aquarium, large-eyed Goldfish were
yawning on the counter, catfish were
winlSing and blinking, and delicate
perfume Of mackerel pervaded the air.
Bon vivants were buying salmon and
black bass, boarding house keepers
were purchasing halibut and sturgeon,
while porgies and herring were selling
like hot cakes.
A large box of fish, which just ar
rived from Savannah, was brought to
the booth and opened. 1t was full of
rare southern fish packed in ice
"What fine fish," said lady, with a
market basket on her arm.
At this moment an eel raised his head
from the box and calmly looked around
at the spectators He was an electric
eel, and the crowd thought that his
eyes glittered like two incandescent
lights. Every one stepped back in as
tonishment
Then the eel began to get angry. The
spectators declared that his eyes
snapped, and some said that til blazed.
The more the eel looked around the
angrier he got At last he wriggled
out OF the box, jumped to the floor and
charged on the crowd of spectators.
The cells blood was up. Every one
turned and ran Ladies screamed and
sought refuge on chairs and boxes A
red-faced man weighing two hundred
pounds stood on fish counter with
one foot on q mackerel and the other
on halibut, and shouted for help.
The electric eel got fairly frantic
with rage. He ran hither and thither
like q wild bull at bull fight glaring
at the frightened spectators with his
incandescent eyes Two or three bold
clerks made desperate charge and
one OF them grabbed hold of the eel.
He received a violent electric shock
and fell over against a fish barrel. He
estimated that the eel was charged
with about eighteen hundred volts of
electricity. The eel seemed to have a
| continuous current Of electricity strong
enough to light small city like Ho-
bolzen.
The eel felt that he owned the mar
ket, and he charged right and left like
bull in china shop He was almost
as destructive as a trolley street car.
II have it," said a redfaced man,
who was standing on the mackerel and
halibut ''The reason that we can't
catch the eel is that we are not insu-
lated. The electricity in that eel is
about four times as strong as that sup
piled to the electric chair at Sing Sing.
Let some one put on pair of rubber
gloves"
''Thats WISDOM" said everybody.
"If that eel keeps tearing about here
much longer none of us will ever leave
the market alive"
A courageous clerk put ON pair Of
rubber gloves and attacked the eel II
made the spectators think of the com
bat between st. George and the dragon.
The struggle was thrilling. At last
the clerk grasped the eel firmly with
both hands. In vain the electric eel
tried both the continuous and the in.
termittent current The brave clerk
lifted the rampant, living dynamo from
the floor, dropped him into gold fish
jar, and placed wire net over the tor
of it. The eel was four and one-halt
feet long. Then the spectators se'
gained their presence of mind anG
went away. N. Y. Journal