Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1895-01-05
EEL THAT LIKED MILK.
He Was Slippery, but Dry Ashes Fl
nu11y Caught Him.

He Was slippery, but Dry Aches FL
nally Caught Him.
Abner Hammell Is a famous fisher.
man Of 1rvington, N. j., whose fish and
snake stories occasionally get into tho
local papers to the amusement Of tho
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 a 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 of on tho
morning milkin'. and kept gettin' wuss
and wuss rs the summer run along
She seemed to be all right durin' the
day. but didn't produce In the night
bad KEEP her In the little barn down by
the crick, and fur while he had an idee
that somebody was milkin' her durin
the night. I don't know but he 'spic
Toned me, fur he put lock on the barr
door and then come over the mex
mornin' and asked me to lend him m,
bunch Of keys, sayin' he'd lost or mis-
laid his. Foxcy. warn't he? You Sc,
he found the COW hadn't done no bettel
in the night, and he wanted to find on
whether I had key to At the lock
Things went on in the same way for {
month or two. and one day suggeste,
to him that It might be that his COW
was gittin' MIXED regular every nigh
by a milk snake. and that he orte
witch her. I greed to help him, bu
he said he'd do 1t alone, and he wen
down that night and set for four hour
on q half-bushel measure watching tn
COW. Then he got tired and went in tn
house and turned In. Mex mornin' tn
cow didn't let down morn two quart
Of milk. Dads got patience, and b
watched tho better part Of tho mex
night and he one follerin', and then h,
saw sight that sprised him, though
warn't SO s'prisin' to me after wa
told about It.
"He thought the COW was actin kin
der queer, and. pulling the lantern VI
out Of the nall key he had 1t In, he fiasll
ed tho light on her and saw what h
thought was big blacksnake standin
on its tail an milkin' the COW. Tn
light scarf 1t an It drops OF and slip
away In tho dark corner. He locke,
high and low for It, but had to 90 to be,
without gettin' another sight Of 1t. Mex
night he got shot at 1t with rifle. bu
missed II, an 1t got away. He didn'
find out what 1t was till the fOllerin
night, and then he hit 1t fur with ,
Flobert bullet, and the ball glanced of
tho slippery eel. II It had been snak,
1t would have killed It, but 1t only daxe,
the eel long enough fer dad to see wha
1t was.
"The eel looked to weigh about tire,
an half pounds, an as dad was abOu
to pick 1t up and thinkin' what a goo,
breakfast It would make, It gave twls
and slid through hole In the side O
the barn and drop't into the brool;
Dad went fishin' fer that eel mex day
and set up all night nearly watchin
fer 1t with an eel spear, but the eel wa
too cunning fer him, and mex mornin
tho COW gave fifteen quarts Of milk
shown what the eel had been In tn
habit of takin'. It went on that wa
fer weeks. II he wanted any milk 4
the mornin' he'd hev to set up all nigh
with the COW. an II he didn't set up tn
eel would come every time. He stop
up all the holes, an the eel made ne,
ones. He tried pizened milk, an tho ee
wouldn't touch 1t. Then he knuckle
under an came to me fer advice. jes
told him to put some dry ashes unde
the COW an he'd get the eel. He did Il
an the next dry he found the eel layir
stiff In the barn. 1t he'd got the ashe
all mixed up with the slime an
couldn't crawl. He cut the cells throa
and skinned II. IN never saw q purtie
eel 1t was almost pure white, wher
other cells meat Is ginerally blue, an h
said 1t was the best tasting eel he eve
he'd. l knowd bout cells an ashe
when ! was u boy. There's time
when cells come out onto pasture Ian
ter feed on crickets at night, an an oil
German told me how to catch 'em. A
he did was to make wide strip of dr.
ashes twiXt the pasture and the waite
and the cells could't cross It,"