The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-04-17

ne Was slippery, but Dry Ashes Fi-
naliy Caught Him.

naliy Caught Him.
Abner Hammell is famous fisher.
man Of Iryington, MI. whose fish and
snake stories occasionally get into the
local papers 10 the amusement Of the
reader. The last story Abner tells is
the most remarkable Condensed from
the lengthy narrative as il originally
appeared the story Is as follows 10 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 keprf fat Long iehpls
in the SUMMER She Kinder fell of on the.
morning milLip' and kept .geuin' wuss
and wuss as ne sllpmer run along.
She seemed 10 be all fight durin' DE.
day. bur didn't produce. IN the night
Dad KEEP her ini1he little barn down by
the Atek,and fur a while be had an idee
that somebody was mllkiu her durin-
the night. ! don't know but he 'spi..
ioned me, fur he put lock On the barn
door and then come ovpr the mex
.mornin and asked NE to lend him my
bunch Of keys. sayin' he'd lost or mis-
laid his Foxey, warn't hee You see
he found the COW hadn't done no better
In the night. and hp wanted to find ouf
whether | had a Key to iii the lOck.
Things went on in the same way for a
month or two. and one day suggested
TO him that It might be that his COW
was gittin' MIXED regular every night 4
by a milk snake. and that he or.er
watch her. greed 30 help him. but /
he said he'd do it alone and be- went
down that night and set for four hours
on a half-bushel measure watching the
cow Then he got tired and went ia the
house and turned In. Mex morniu- the
cow didn't let down MORN two quarts
Of milk. Dads got patience ana No.
watched the better part Of the mex
night and he one follerin'. and then ne
saw sight that s'prised him. though Il
1arn't so s'prisin' To me after L was
old about IT,
HE thought the COW was actin Kin
Ter queer, and. pulling the lantern up
mt OF the nail keg he had il in. he iiash.
d the light on her and saw what he
hought was a big blaoksnake standin
N its tail an milkin' the COW. The
ight scarf it an it drops on and slips
way In the dark corner lie looked
Ugh and low for It. but hail TO "a, b b,.a
Without gettln' another sight Of it. Nex'
light he got shot att with a rifle. but
iissed II, an Il got away. He didn't
nd out what II was tin the follerin'
light, and then he hit IL fair with
lobert bullet andlthe ban glanced OF
lc slippery eel Ifit had been snake
would have killed Il, built only dazed
le eel long enough fer dad to,see what {
was.
The eel looked 70 weigh about three y
a half pounds, an as dad was about =
pick it up and thinkin' what a good \
-eakfast It would make. II gave mfvrlxt !,
I'd slid through a hole in the side Of :,
e barn and drop't into the. brook. Il
ad went fshin' FER that eel nex' day. q
I'd set up all night nearly watchln n
4 il with an eel spear. bur the. eel was v
o cunning fer him. and mex mornin 4,
c COW gave fifteen quarts of milk. v.
OWN what the eel had been ia the III
bit Of takin'. II went on That way n.
r weeks. n he wanted any milk In W
e mornin he'd hey t0iset up an night a,
nh the cow, an If he didn't set up the 70
would come every time. lie stop't II
all the holes. an the eel made new ~
es. He tried pizened min. an the eel 70
ouldn't touch It. Then De- knuckled ac
der AM came 10 meter advice. 1 lest sQ
d. him to put some dry ashes under In
E COW an he'd get the eel He did IL st
thenext day be found the eel lawn. an
q in the barn. II he'd got the ashes
mixed up with the slime ana
IlFint crawl He cut the eers throat
4 Skinned il, an 4 never saw a purifier m
II was almost pure white. where ha
Ter cells meat hs ginerally blue. an he on
Z il was the best tasting eel he ever dii
, know'd bout cells an ashes
en ! was boy. There's times IA
en- eels come cut onto pasture Land ca
feed on crickets at night an an old ab
rman told me how 70 catch 'cm. All ca
did was 70 make a wide strip Of dry th'
Ies twixt the pasture and the water
J the eels couid't cross IT," su
gr
A Sufficient Causc.