The Republican journal., 1910-12-29
TROUT MARKED IA. S."
True Story How the Squaretailed Variety
Reached Walkers Pond.
From the New \ ork Sum-

From the New ork SUM-
The way squaretailed trout came tt
get into Walkers pond, Brooksville, ,
said Col. Joseph Walker, sis no longer 6
story, sir. 1t is history, authentic his.
tory, as sound as Bible doctrine. was
born and brought up alongside of the
pond. and it was named for my grand.
father-Fghting Joe Walker, they call.
ed him in Revolutionary days. If any
man ought to know the fact, am that
man. So listen.
eff Andrew Sukeforth had not gone
and got drunk of New England rum,
making fool of himself, giving his soul
to the Old Scratch, and scandalizing his
wife and family, there would never have
been squaretail in the whole pond.
There were none there when / was boy;
nothing but pickerel and perch and
Dream, as l we'll know, having fshed
there many rainy day when it was too
wet to work out Of doors.
"Andrew Sukeforth was never any
good in the world, though l say it, and he
my own uncle on my mothers side. But,
then, all the spunk in our family came
from the Walkers, so it makes no differ
ence.
'ltwas in November, 1889, right away
after my return at the head of nv troops
from the Aroostook war, that it happen
ed. l had told all hands about how we
should have licked the New Brunswick
ers out of their boots if Daniel Webster
had been man and let us fight, and all
of US had taken considerable liquor, and
Uncle Andrew more than was good for
his constitution.
''When it came time to close up the
tavern, Andrew could not be found, so we
went home without him. Well sir, no.
body ever saw him alive after that night,
and we didn't find his body until after
the ice went out in the spring.
1.-The first trace we found of what ne
had done was when Cy Perkins told his
widow that he had seen Uncle Andrew
dipping live bait from the pools in Baga-
duce river about sunset that night. This
led US to hunt for his covered smelt
house, which he used to shove about on
top of the ice on runners, and when we
found that was gone. we knew that
Uncle Andrew, fearing to go home to
his wife, had gone fishing on the thin ice
of Walkers pond.
The next news that came was that
Uncle Andrews fish house had been dis
covered on its side over hole in the ice
about midway of the pond, after which
Aunt Sukeforth put on mourning and
worked along the same as usual, without
having to go to the expense of providing
funeral. Naturally, we who had been
at the tavern knew how it had happened,
"He had dipped lot of young trout
from the river shadows and gone out on
the shore ice in his fishing house, intend
ing to catch enough pickerel for break
fast and sober off at the same time,
But the fish didn't bite very we'll, and
Uncle Andrew fell asleep.
''Then a guest of wind came up and
bowed his fishing house along on the ice
until it came to open water, when it went
in and drowned the old man as if he had
been rat in wire trap. When the
fishing house upset it tipped over the
can of live bait, and by doing SO intro
duced the squaretail trout into Walker 8
pond, where they have been ever since.
Anybody but a born fool ought to
know that was the way it was done. If
you will look on the back of any square
tail taken from the pond you will see the
letters "A S. in darker lines showing up
plainly. And what does "A s. stand for,
if not for Andrew Sukeforth, I'd like to
know!
''Those summer visitors try to be funny
at times and say that there is another
letter, second S, meaning that the man
who believes the story is that kind of a
beast; but we Walkers and Sukeforth's
know better"