The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-07-03
TALES OF THE TIMES.
The Man From jersey Tells q Few Ssa1
Yarns On the Fishing Question.


The man from Jersey had been telling q
yarn. 1t was a corker, and every one
crowded round him. Mr.. Pratt Of Hacken-
sack said he would tackle little more OF
the stuff, and he appeared to feel better
after imbibing it. Then he cleared his
throat.
"Say, you all know Johnny Conway,
the Passsic river fishcrmanr'
There was a general shaking of heads, al
which the man from Hackensack looked
surprised.
II thought everybody knew Johnny
Conway He's the greatest fisherman in
Jersey Why he knows the habits of fishes
better than he knows his own mind when
he's sober. Well, Johnny has met With q
great streak of luck, and thought you d
all like to hear about it; but, of course, il
you don't know the man you won't care
Tell US about i'll" said the crowd IN
chorus.
"Well. Johnny has been fishing along
the Passaic for years and years. 1t has
been his habit to build himself little
cabin on the bank of the river in winter
time and live there until spring, when he
would go out and fish all summer.
Last fall Johnny was about 20 miles up
the river when cold weather overlook him,
but he decided to stay right there until
spring. He looked around for place to
build a cabin and found hard, dry little
island not more than 20 feet across, lying
right in close to the shore. A long plank
would serve as a footbridge from the bank
of the river to the island.
at was Just the place he wanted, and,
getting some old planks together, he built
a neat little hut out on the island put in a
stove and settled there for the winter. He
tried the fishing in May, but it was toe
cold. and they did not bite fast enough tc
suit him, so he went back into winter
quarters and staid there until the warm
spell came along last week. Then he went
to work to get his lines ready fer the work
of the summer.
lone night Johnny went to bed and
dreamed Of the big catch he would make
the next day as the beginning OF his work
for the year.
well, you can't imagine how surprised
Conway was the next morning when he
awoke and found himself, cabin, island
and all, out in the middle of the river and
five miles below the spot where he had
spent the winter.
'sHe rushed out of his cabin to investi-
gate and found that the little island which
he had pre-empted for his own was slowly
drifting down the river toward the sea.
Looking closely at the sides Of the
moving island, he saw what appeared to be
clumsy propellers of some sort. A further
Investigation revealed the fact that he was
afloat in the middle of the river on the
back of hugo sea turtle. The turtle
probably got caught far up the river by
the cold weather and laid up there hall
frozen until the hot spell last week thawed
it out, and then it started back toward the
sea as fast as it could go with Johnny
Conway and his cabin on its back.
'Now, Johnny is one OF those fellow:
who always have an eye on the main chance
and never let good thing pass him on g
down grade. He did not study over hi:
situation more than five minutes before
he went to work.
"Taking his AK, he chopped a holt
through the shell of the turtle right in the
middle of the back. Then, with n knife
he cut away a lot of flesh, after which hi
let his stove down into the hole. Building
q roaring hot fire in the stove, he poured {
lot of water into the hole, put in some sail
and vegetables, and in an hour he had ter
barrels of as fine turtle soup as you evel
tasted.
"He made it warm for the turtle, how
ever, and the animal turned in to the shor'
at Newark to fight the fire that he mus
have felt raging inside him. Well. the tur
tie ran ON a mud bank close TO the shore
and stuck there.
Now, what do you suppose Johnnie
did? Why, lie ran out his gangplanA t.
the bank of the river and put up sigr
over the door of his cabin: