St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-03-30
A FISH THAT WALKED.

Texas Preacher.
The latest thing in the way Of .
Texas fish story comes from Hillsboro.
Henry w. Aycock. who at one time
was the editor of q paper in Hillsboro.
and who q few weeks since conducted
the Methodist conference in that city.
relates the narrative. After the COM
pletion of his conference duties ono
day he went out in the country short
distance for a hunt. II was . few
miles from the CITY," he said, land
nearing creek which is known to con-
tain numbers of large fish. 1t was
growing dark as neared the stream.
and it was my intention to 60 there.
get . drink and return home. When
in about two hundred feet OF the
water l saw what took to be .
huge catfish walking on its tail.
The strange sight SO astonished me
that l could not even believe my eye
sight. Leveling my gum at the fish !
pulled the trigger. My aim was good
one, and. although it struck its mark,
the fish continued to walk ut rapid
gait on the banks of the stream ap-
preached nearer to make sure that 1t
was . fish. My excitement from sec
ing such . strange sight was soon over
come, and 1 saw plainly then that the
object was what I took it to be-a
huge catfish. l again took aim with
my gun and fred again with the same
effect as at first-striking the fish each
time, but not retarding it in its rapid
walk. Further and further down the
banks of the stream it strolled and. al
though very dark, ! still pursued it.
When about three miles down the
stream met farmer who joined me
in the pursuit, saying that he had seen
the strange object ON several occasions
past, and although he had shot and hit
it several times. the effect WAS mere
nothing to the walking wonder.
1--WE pursued the strange specimen
Of the finny tribe fully two hours.
'sWhy didn't we catch it? We didn't
want tor at least we didn't think it
safe to do so.
AFTER . lapse of about two hours
we finally decided to bring the strange
thing to bay, even at the risk of our
lives. So we again leveled our Win
chesters at it and fired. After having
fred five shots each we finally succeed
ed In telling the creature to the ground.
Fearing probably that its bite might
be dangerous, we concluded to wait un-
til we were sure that it was dead be-
fore we advanced upon it. We waited
about FIVE minutes, until life seemed
extinct, and we advanced little near
er. Its mouth was wide open, and as
we advanced life seemed to return. We
stopped short, and, to our dismay and
strange feeling, the thing again bound
ed to its tail and began walking back.
ward toward MS.
s.Of course, we were not afraid. but
anyhow we backed of as the thing
backed toward us. We fred our Win.
chesters again, and the strange thing
fell again.
1T was very dark, and we could
barely see the creature, but that it waa
dying we could easily tell from it,
strange means. We waited fully thirty
minutes. and, though dark, we could
see plainly that it was swelling to cnor
nous proportions. Suddenly it assumed
. different shape; seemingly it had
been transformed from . mighty catfish
to . young pig. We waited few min
utes longer. and through the dim ;lght
Of the rising moon we saw plainly thai
what was an hour ago. beyond doubt
. huge catfish was now, undoubtedly
. small pig. To make sure we advanced
closer. and, satisfying ourselves that II
was . pig. we concluded to take it Il
town with us to satisfy those WHIT
might have doubted our story. We die
SO, and, upon inquiry, we were salts
fed as to the whole history OF the crea
ture.
| Zone year ago an old farmer whs
resided near the creek drove his pig,
there every evening to water. One
evening, to his dismay and astonish
ment, he saw . huge catfish lift il
head from out of the water and swal
low one of the smallest shoats. !,
lived and in some unaccOuntable man
ner not in accord with the laws Of M
ture, thrived upon the necessities q
tho life Of . fish. It grew stronger
and stronger until its strength wa
greater than that of the fish when il
began walking. Then the fish Va,
outdone, and when it began walking
Il Tell . prey TO my Winchester ani
curiosity, - have stated.
1--WE went hack Ia. the creek Hex1
day 70 - what the remaindar Of II
Ash rssenhed. but We vexe not a6ton
/ iahod 70 1nd that them we're - =
,uatns 1efk While ~ Weeo Woitf11
~ ~ - - H - - @tee1 49,