Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1903-09-05
TALE or A FISHING TRIP
How Two Confding Anglers Were
Cruelty Duped by Joker.
The BAIT IS CoNFIsCATED
And The Thirsty Fishermen sizzle 10 the
Open Without Thing to Drink
Mr.. sunday Gels Even.

Il
Postmaster Clohau and Internal
Revenue Collector Henshaw, of this
city, are two government officials and
expert fishermen who are prepared to
go befoSe mag strate any day and
register va solemn declaration that
there isn't blamed fish in the whole
Potomac river from the point in the
wilds of Western Maryland where the
| historic and beautiful stream has it's
birth, down to the sand dunes aud
killdeer farms of the bailiwick ruled
by Sidney Mudd.
| They are also eager to asseverate with
degree of vehemence born of sor-
rowfnl experience that the aforesaid
stream is the greatest producer and
cultivator of huge and vigorous
thirst. and offers fewer opportunities
for its alienation, than any stream
follower of the gentle art of missing
the nimhle and elusive black bass has
ever stacked up against.
This is no hasty and ill-considered
proposition; nor yet has this ccnvic-
ton always found lodcment in the
bosoms of the above mentioned indi-
viduals. There was a time in the not
| far distant past when life held its
measure of sweetness and iov for
them, and when the prospect of hook
ing a two-pounder appealed TO the
imagination like seductive mint
julep on dav when it was 90 i'll the
shade. All this was real until Mr..
Mundav, the postmaster at Shepherds
town. with diabolical and sardonic
humor. inveipled his two victims into
trip to the river at that place.
| Mr.. Mundav held forth the most
| tempting inducements. The water was
clear and sparkling as the brook that
river was so full of bass that their fin
stuck above the surface like stubble
in newly-cut wheat field boats were
wedged in plenteous profusion along
the teeming stream; the cooling
breezes swept the water into gentle
ripples. and the leafy trees nodded a
welcome to the shade beneath. The
visitors were not expected to bring Ia
I thing-not thing-except bait--biR.
fat bottles of bait--bait that would
cheer and soothe and invigorate both
fish and man.
The prospect was one for an ardent
and confiding fisherman to coniure
with. Visions of great fiopping bass
that should knock Jim Thompson s
record Lipton. wise floated through the
rosy atmosphere at the government
building and changed the dull grind
of office work into one long sweet paen
of triumph.
And so they set out. with great,
bullying knobs Of bait distributed over
their persons in symmetrical groups.
Postmaster MuDday welcomed them
with all the sauvity for which he is
known. and gently but firmly took
charge Of the bait. Just what became
of it no one could remember in ps
whirl which followed. The urbape
host was sorry. but hadn't a thin in
the shane of boat save an old leaKy
tub which the trio took turns at bail
ing out TO keep from reaching land in
O southerly direction. For some occult
reason the gentle aud cooling breezes
were of on vacation, and the fish were
painfully and persistently non est.
The thermometer registered 80 degrees
in the shade and trifie less than 200
where the pullible Martinsburg GENTLE
men were lodged in the open. All
this Nigh have been borne with equan.
unity had it not been for the absence
OF the bait. No one can catch fish
without bait, and for seven hours
three detected individuals might have
been seen sizzling in the terrific heat,
looking askance at the water and cast
/ ing anxious chances over the landscape
in search of some good samaritan.
The balance of the story is painful
too painful to he told.
) AS the dim shadows were falling to-
ward the east that evening two weary
individuals wearing upon their coun-
tenances an expression of pain, great
patches of sunburn and stern resolve
never to do il again, might have been
seen entering the outlying precincts
Of Martinsburg. How they lodged
their waiting friends. and how they
afterward parried or haughtilv and
scornfully ignored all reference to
their trip. is. in the language of Kip
I1iuo apcfbar 60