Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-03-05
GENERAL ROGERS GOES FISHING.
And His Experiences are Remarkable and Hair
Raising.
SANTA CArALIN ISLANDS IN THE
q lAnIatIla AnuAN Nm % Inal. /.

EDITOR CENSOR:-Phil. Cheek and
Geo. Barry came this way and remarked
that they wanted to go fishing where
flsh bite; that fish never nibbled their
hooks That being my experience we
started for the island. We took a car
to San Pedro, then steamer TO this isle
OF the sea, a fairy hunting and fishing
resor6. Cheek was so anxious to fish
get bite" as he called IT, that ne rush
ed to the boat house and engaged boat
An old salt said everything was lovely
Tor n, that 1t was marine holiday at
Catalina. Iasked him what the marine
annual had to do with Washington's
birthday He said one million years
ago that very day, the land went down,
forests, rocks hills and valleys; that he
g'ould show us the great wonders Of the
deep; could take glass bottom boat.
see the sunken forest the great process
sion of fauna, the like no where else to
be seen on this revolving globe Cheek
nor the writer ever caught fish; Barry
never rowed boat, Equipped with
fishing tackle that would spin ont a mile.
we spat on our hooks, Berry spat on his
hands, end the man from whom we
chartered the boat told us to go ont
about six miles to good place on ex-
cursion days.
Barry rowed over the sunken forests
over myriads of sea flora and fauna
when we arrived at the grounds" Be.
fore us were many whales, lashing the
sea into foam, spouting water like a
Yellow Stone geyser, then there appear.
cd many sea lions, gamboling, diving
splashing and barking Cheek told
Barry to row toward land; that he want
ed TO catch small game-a minnow was
big enough. Barry said we were out on
Washington's birthday and wanted to
see what the ocean had.
There we were ia the midst of the
most wonderful sea life ever witnessed
by man Great school of small fish fol.
lowed by schools of larger fish, then
came the family of mackerel chased by
the porpoise, then the bass pursued by
the tarpon, then flying fish being run
down by the shark and the sword fish
Phil for once in his life was satisfied
when he got large bass on his hook.
which ran out the ine--we had been
told TO let them go, and they would
drown-snd when Cheek got 1t in we
were in school of flying fish. a great
shark splashed the water, bit Phils bass
in two parts, leaving only the head A
81 00pound octopus grasped the oar from
Barry. The flying fish excited. by the
shark begun flying over and in the boat
like colony of warming bees We
stopped to throw the flying fiah out of
the boat which was about TO sink with
our load, when sword fish ran his long
bill through the boat between Barry'e
legs and showed us ont of sight of land
before we could stop it. Phil took off
shirt and signaled lumber schooner to
come to our relief The schooner came
up let us have saw to saw the bin off
the fish and disentangle ourselves from
frightful situation, otherwise we
would have been showed to the Hawaiian
Islands
We now started for lbe island, and
before reaching it, directly in front
there arose out of the sen mermaid
and said plainly: Phil Cheek, 20 away
back and sit down, and take some of
that which made Milwaukee famous. !"
Cheek said whisky was good enough for
him. just then tidal wave rolled in
over us spilling our fish and landing us
high up on rock, so high we had to
make a rope of trousers to get down
We returned to the hotel much like
Robinson Crusoe On the veranda of
the hotel were sixty-two widows with
their daughters, seventeen married men
and their wives, and our own wives who
were in great agony because of our alb
sence, now astonished at our woeful ap.
pearanee. Not one of our party ever
again wanted 10 see fish.
! suggested that we go up to Mount
Low on the trolley and hunt lions. But
Cheek said he had all the sport he want
ed and intimated that | was TO blame
for his days outing Barry said he did
not want to hunt lions He said club
woman told him Of two veterans of
Sherman's army, soldiers ygho had march
ed from Atlanta TO the sea. captured
Savanna, burnt the capital of South
Carolina, who refused TO be mustered
out with their regiments until JEFF Dav-
is hanged, and who went up the noun
tain TO hunt lions; that lion ran them
up pine tree, then a condor flew down,
took one in each salon and carried them
to the condor's eylie, far up at the peak
and placed them thSre in its nest. their
whereabouts was unknown for ten DAYS,
when the president of the Relief Corps
hired Prof. Lowe to go up with his bal
loon. He passed them parachutes and
let them down. Therefore our lion hunt
was abandoned
! have heard Williams, Pulver and
Schreiner talk two weeks on the sport
of fishing in a morning fog, in the hot
sun and orly had one bite. Frank Min
shall said he found all three of them. one
foggy morning in dry coolie of Har
rison "holler" fishing and DR. Schreiner
told him twenty-seven times about the
bite" he had in the dry creek the fog
was so thick he thought he was on the
stream. Frank says the doctor told him
that story 30 many times that it inter
fered with his canvass for sheriff.
can only repeat the words of the
the mermaid to Cheek. 'fio away back
and sit down" after my Washington
birthday fishing on the Pacific | want
fish story genuine. of whales, lions
sharks, sword fish bass. porpoise, and
tarpons.
p s. Feb 90. The last saw Of Cheek
he was running 10 a fire, Barry was
writing a dispatch, while the writer
stops to eat hi orange
EARL NJ ROGERS.