The Washington times., 1904-03-08
TURNED THE CURRENT
UPON ELECTRIC EEL
How This Strange Amphiban Charged the Tank in Which
He Was Kept Aboard the Minnetonka.

NEW YORK. March S.-One of the
most remarkable exhibits which has ar
rived for the st. Louis Exposition is
that of the marine fauna OF the British
Isles, which got here yesterday on the
Atlantic transport Minnetonka in
charge of j. L. Adams.
The collection consists primarily of ed
ible fishes. including such toothsome pis-
cine delicacies as soft-shen crabs. kip
pered herring. whiting, turbot. brill.
founders. sOles. smelts, and Holsters.
Most of the exhibit appeared in high
spirits, being Theoretically sealed up in
glass jars filed with pure alcohol: but
a few specimens were brought over
alive. chief among which are Christian
De Wet. the big electric eel. and Meph-
tstOpheles the huge devil fish.
Trouble With Eel
we had lot of trouble with the eel
on the way over" said Mr.. Adams. Tie
was put in a zinc-lined sheet-irOn tank.
which Was mistake; II should have
been Of glass TO prevent the electricity
from escaping. That tank came near
being the death of Mephistopheles, and.
incidentally, of one of the sailors.
After Mcphistopheles had been In It
a while we noticed that he looked all
worn out He wouldn't move around or
eat anything; just lay there all curled
up in one corner. l thought something
must be wrong. so ] asked one of the
men TO move the tank up on the deck.
thinking maybe IL was fresh air and
sunlight that he needed. Well. as soon
as he took hold of the tank he gave
a yen, as though it were red hot
What's the trOuble| saiG
Trouble" said he, beginning to
swear to himself 'Jes tech hit yourself,
sir
Il did So. continued Mr.. Adams. smil-
ing. and by Jove. l never got such
shock in my life. That blooming eel
had charged the whole tank like a nigh
power battery,
'Of course knew then what the mat
ter with him was, and why he was
wasting away like that. All his en-
ergy had gone TO charging that box At
first 1 was at a loss what TO do: didn't
have anything else TO put him in; and
then a bright idea came 10 me.
Send for Mr. Bell. the chief en-
gineer.' I said. He came
d" Mr.. Bell, said /. can you run an
electric light wire into this tankY
yes, sir he said, 1t can be done,
sir; but why, may / ask, sirY
&c 'Methistopheles. Mr.. Bell, lis perish
ing for lack of electricity l explained.
L compute that during the time he has
been confined in this Internal tank he
has lost at least 1900 volts Of his es-
sential life force l doubt very much
il he has more than one or two horse
power left.
Wen. we'll said Mr. Bell. If that
don't beat aH.' and before could stop
him he had put his hands on the edge
Of the tank.
Il endured his remarks for while.
went on Mr.. Adams but finally L
thought il time 10 say a Christening
word. Your language, Mr.. Bell, l OBJ
served, somewhat severely. is sur
prise. 1 may say. a revelation TO me-
had not thought you capable 'of 1t;
but never mind. The point is. Will you
run a wire into that tank TO afford life
10 this poor. suffering fish?'
'Sufferin' fish" cried Mr.. Bell.
dancing up and down. 'Sunerin' Moses!
/ should say. I reckon I'm the sufferer,
not i'm
VIII / run wire into that tank?
he repeated. his eyes cleaning with un-
holy joy. VIII I do il? Watch an see
me II 1 don't turn tn ali-fredest big
gest lot Of thunder juice into that rep
tiles cage. then I'm another. III make
i'm think he's a whole power station
hisself
A very few amperes. Mr.. Bell said