Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-26
CAPT. wM NE|TzEY DEAD
FOREMOST FISHING SHORE oP.
orator ON POTOMAC.
Owned Biggest Seine in America.
Resident of Washington for
Seventy-Five Years.

Capt. William NeitZey, one of the oldest
residents of the southwest section of the
city, and for many years the foremost fish
ing shore operator on the Potomac river.
died at his home. 40 NJ street southwest.
at 100 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
His funeral, which will be held under
Masonic auspices, will take place at 3
| o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Interment
will be in Prospect Hill cemetery.
Capt. Neitzey had been suffering for
about two years from a complication of
diseases. but until about a week ago he
was able to be about. His wife, who was
Miss Caroline Bannister: two daughters.
Mrs Mary Faunce and Miss Isabelle Nett
zey. and three sons. William NJ, John F.
| and George Neitzey. survive.
Capt. Neitzey was born near the city of
Hesse Cassel, Germany. over eighty years
ago, and came to America with his father
and brother in 1882, landing at Baltimore.
The family remained in Baltimore for
about year and then moved to this city.
which had been the home Of Capt. Nett
zey ever since.
When a small boy he was employed in
driving cart during the construction OF
the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. At the
second inaugural ton of President Andrew
Jackson he was employed as driver at
the Capitol grounds, and when the cannon
salute was fired, as Jackson took the oath
of office, the report scared his horse and
his foot was trampled upon and injured.
The inauguration of Jackson" Capt.
Neitzey often said, was very simple. he
was escorted to the Capitol by few ma
rines from the navy yard and by dignita-
ries in carriages. There was no big pa
rade in those days.
Capt. Neitzey saw the first steam train
that ever ran over the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad. The line at that time
ended at Hyattsville, and he went out
there with hundreds of others to see
the engine. He recollected the fire that
destroyed the patent Office. the Know
Nothing riots at the Nothern Liberty
market, and the destruction of the stone
sent by the pope to go in the Washington
Monument.
He was at the Long bridge when the
soldiers retreating from Bull run came
across the bridge. He was In the city
during the entire war, saw Lincoln in
augurated, and witnessed the excitement
following his assassination.
OF the grand review of the army after
the war Capt. Neitzey has said:
pennsylvania avenue at that time was
like marsh, and the soldiers would sink
up to their ankles in the mud
He saw Washington grow from little
hamlet of scattered houses to the great
and beautiful city it now is.
Capt. Neitzey has lived through the
administrations of nineteen Presidents.
from Andrew Jackson to Theodore Roose-
Welt He was a democrat Of the Jackso-
Man school.
After reaching mans estate Capt.
Neitzey turned his attention to fishing in
the river. In the half century or longer
in which he was engaged in the business
he amassed a comfortable competence.
His first net was small gill net OF a
few hundred feet long. His business ex-
banded and during his career as a fisher
man he operated the biggest haul seine
ever used in the United States. If not in
the world This net was f1shed at Stony
point on the Potomac until about ten
years ago.
The net itself was nine miles long and
with the end ropes carried about four
teen miles. In this net half million
herring and 10000 shad have been caught
at one time.
About eight years ago Capt. Neitzey
purchased the Fairy Landing fishing
shore. on the Virginia side Of the river.
opposite Mount Vernon. This shore was
a portion of Gen. Washington's estate.
and was fished by his slaves in the eigh-
teenth century.
At Fairy Landing Capt. Neitzey oper-
ated net which, with ropes. was about
ten miles long. To handle this big seine
and Stony point seine, steam was used.
In 1904 Capt. Neitzey retired from the
fishing business. turning 1t over to his
sons. who still operate the Fairy Landing
shore. He was an authority on fish and
the methods of taking them, and was
often consulted by the government author
tiles an expert.
Views of his big seine at Stony point
were awarded a gold medal at Chicago.