The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-08-02
THE AGE OF TURTLES.
They Grow Cid and Aid Romance
Along the Ohio.

Along the Ohio.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Aug. 2-The
| great age to which the turtle may
attain is not a new subject. but it is one
| that embraces elements of much interest.
| Most people have believed, and still be-
lieye, that the biggest and Oldest turtles
are deniZens of the sea. It seems, howev-
| er, that they grow old and become large
in the Indiana counties lying along the
Ohio River.
This interest has been heightened and
| the longevity OF the turtle confirmed by
| find which has just been reported from
the neighborhood of Vevay, Switzerland
| county. j. D. Froman and E. E. Kelso,
both men of veracity, We're walking along
the river one evening and found turtle
which carried on its back the inscription,
Z. h 5. Lamb, 1856" They threw the wan
| derer into the river and began an investi-
cation, with the result that they learned
! the initials stood for c. E. Simpson, who
remembered cutting the letters on the ami
NAL when he was quite a young man. A
| few days later some mowers on the Dug
dale farm, near Vevay, found the same
| turtle. it having wandered inland a dis
lance of nearly ten miles.
Another story which comes from the
! same region contains suggestion of
romance. A turtle was captured by Miss
Mary Conn, and on its shell armor the let
tiers and figures, M A. B. 1867 Miss
Conn reported the find to her father,
George W Conn, Of Charlestown, and he
recalled the circumstances under which the
terrapin was marked more than forty years
ago. He said that he and Mary \. Dryer
were walking along the river bank one
night in 1866 He had just proposed to her
and had been accepted. when he espied the
turtle in the sand. Picking il up, he cut
Miss Buyers initials and the date upon its
back, and turned ii loose. Mr. Conn and
Miss Dryer were married, their daughter
was born, the mother died. and the daugh-
ter. grown TO Womanhood found the tur-
tie. The turtle was found within three
miles of the spot where it was picked up
forty years before but that is the only
time that ii is known to have been seen.
Mr.. Conn made an effort to keep the wan
derer. but it made its escape from the pen
which he constructed, and it is again car
Tying the romance up and down the Ohio.
Quite the opposite of this little romance
is story that has received general Gre
dence along the river in Switzerland eoun-
ty. In 1859 a little girl named Jackson
caught turtle in the sand ard cut her
initials on its back, together with the date.
Time wore on, and the incident passed en-
tirely out of her mind. She was a hand
some woman, remarkably vivacious, and
not above the weakness of coquetry. But
as the years went by and she missed
chance after chance to marry she decided
that her age must remain in the neighbor-
hood of thirty. Indeed, she did not look a
day older than that.
1t was under such conditions that !
young man came to the town and opened |
store. He was not over twenty-five and /
1t was not long before he was manifestly !
under the influence of the CHAINS of Miss !
Jackson's accomplishments. Rumor had it |!
that they were about JC. be married One
evening late in the spring they were walk |
ing along the river bank, and the turtle |
with the telltale date ard initials obtruded /
itself in their way. The lover saw the /
coincidence between the initials OF his aft
anced and those on the back of the turtle /
but the date was wholly out of harmony /
with what she had represented. His sus-
PIGEONS were aroused, and with them came |
back the old sarcasm which had long been
latent in Miss Jackson's disposition She |
replied with bitterness when he demanded /
TO know how old she was when she cut her
initials on the turtles back. Then there
was a quarrel. and the young merchant
ceased his attentions. and the two became
as strangers.
The theory that the turtle lives to be 100
years old does not appear to be unreasor-
able IN the light of find which was made /
by Lee Carmony, farmer of Madison
county. short time ago. He was plow-
ing in his field, when he discovered a land
turtle that had the date, July, 1884" in
scribed upon its back. The marking had
been greatly dimmed by growth, but the
figures could be traced with ease There
are people still living along the Ohio River !
VINO declare they have seen turtles which |
had been marked by the soldiers of Gen.
George Rodgers Clarke when he was hold
ing out on old Corn island preparatory to
marching against the British at Kaskas-
kia and Vincennes, and at least one Of the
teTrapin carried on his back the date of
1881