Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1894-12-28
EEL THAT LIKED MILK.
He Was Slippery, but Dry Ashes Fl
naIIy Caught I'm.

Abner Hammell is a famous fisher
man of Irvington. y. j.. whose fish and
snake stories occasionally get into the
local papers to the amusement Of the
reader. The last story Abner tells is
the most remarkable. Condensed from
the lengthy narrative as it originally
appeared the story is as follows. in the
old mans own language:
Dad Applegate got Il fine COW last
Spring-One of the best COWS ever see
Fur time she gave forty quarts of
milk day and kept fat Long early
in the summer she kinder fell off on the
morning milkin' and kept gettin' wuss
and wuss as the summer run along
She seemed TO be all right durin' the
day, but didn't produce in the night
Dad KEEP her in the little barn down by
the crick.and fur 4 while he had an idee
that somebody was milkin' her durin'
the night. | don't know but he 'spic-
Toned me. fur he put lock on the barn
door and then come over the next
mornin' and asked me to lend him my
bunch of keys, sayin' he'd lost or mis-
laid his. FoXey. warn't he? You see
he found the COW hadn't done no better
in the night. and he wanted to find out
whether | had a key to fit the lock
Things went on in the same way for 4
month or two. and one day l suggested
to him that it might be that his cow
was gittin' MIXED regular every night
nv fl,at hn
watch her. | greed to help him, but
he said he'd do it alone. and he went
down that night and set for four hours
on 4 half-buShel measure watching the
COW. Then he got tired and went in the
house and turned in. Mex mornin' the
cow didn't let down morn two quarts
of milk. Dads got patience, and he
watched the better part of the mex
night and he one fOllerin'. and then he
saw Il sight that s'prised him. though il
warn't so s'prisin to me after l VA
told about it,
lie thought the COW was actin XIII
der queer, and. pulling the lantern UP
out of the nail key he had it in, he flash
ed the light on her and saw what n
thought was big blacksnake standin
on its tail an milkin' the COW. The
light scarf it an it drops off and slips
away in the dark corner. He looked
high and low for it. but had to 20 to bed
without gettin another sight of it. Mex
night he got shot at it with rifle. brt
missed it, an it got away. He didn't
find out what it was till the follerin
night, and then he hit it fair with
Flobert bullet. and the ball glanced of
the slippery eel If it had been Il snake
it would have killed it, but il only daZeG
the eel long enough fer dad to see what
il was.
1.-The eel looked to weigh about three
an q half pounds, an as dad was about
to pick it up and thinkin' what Il good
breakfast it would make. it gave twist
and slid through a hole in the side OF
the barn and drop't into the brook
Dad went fishn' fer that eel mex day
and set up all night nearly watchin
fer it with an eel spear, but the eel was
too cunning fer him, and mex mornin
the COW gave fifteen quarts of milk
shown what the eel had been in the
habit of takin'. 1t went on that WAY
fer weeks. If he wanted any milk in
the mOrnin he'd hev to set up all night
with the COW, an if he didn't set up the
eel would come every time. He stop'l
up all the holes, an the eel made new
ones He tried piZened milk, an the eel
wouldn't touch it. Then he knuckled
under an came to me fer advice Jest
told him to put some dry ashes under
the cow an he'd get the eel. He did il.
an the next day he found the eel lawn
stiff in the barn. 1t he'd got the ashes
all mixed up with the slime and
couldn't crawl. He cut the eel's throat
and skinned ii, an never saw purifier
eel 1t was almost pure white. where
other cells meat is ginerally blue. an hc
said il was the best tasting eel he ever
he'd | knowd bout cells an ashes
when | was Il boy. There's times
when cells come out onto pasture land
ter feed on crickets at night. an an old
German told me how to catch 'em. All
he did was To make wide strip of dry
ashes twiXt the pasture and the water
and the cells could't cross it,