The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-03-23
TALKING
ITOvER
BY JOE WILLIAMS

CT. PETERSBURG, Fla. March
- 23.-For the second time in two
years storm came up to stop me
from going down to sea in a fishing
sloop Tuesday. How much longer
my luck will hold out / can not
say, but two reprieves in two years
is fair batting average.
have yet to catch a fish or even
cast a militant glover at one, but it
can not be said that l have re-
NAMED insensitive to the lure Of the
great piscatorial pastime, as l be-
lieve it is called
The storm gods are against me. They
Won't give me 2 chance. Mayhe II is a
divine Intervention 10 protect the FISH
against man who does not know his own
AZ any rate. when I went out to Pass
Grille and reported to CAPTAIN Verne
Goodwin he said We couldn't 20 out.
"a Coming in from the vest. he said.
unciipoed hedge Of gray eye-brows. No,
but. captain" I protested.
Taint no use talking TO me. wouldn I
take YOU out there for a million dollars"
SO you see what am up against. An
adventurer at heart a daring. eager sports
man. and I can't get a break. Is 1t any
wonder that have gone back to horse
n
THE captain is one of the char
l. acters Of Pass-a-G Grille, famous
fishing colony off the west coast of
the Gulf of Mexico, a scattered
community of 100 citizens, who
make their living out of fishing.
Anybody with boat down here
automatically becomes a captain.
Practically all the male members of
the community are captains. The
situation is remindful of the Mexi-
can army where everybody is a gen.
eral, only the captains of Pass-a-
Grille are more picturesque, pleas
ant and human.
The little town has It's own mayor ana
Jul quota Of governing officials. Cap
IAN Billy Mitchell is the sheriff. He hasn't
tried to arrest any Of US we'd unvote
him in twenty-four hours" said Captain
n2 Saeap,s Wey soG got hin him for sheriff
The Pass-A- Grille region IS an island
with q WebWork of BAYS. KEYS and passes.
Of tropical plant life and coral reefs
Strange looking birds wheel through the
on Jagged stumps that rise darklY out of
7 don't know whv God ever made the
pelican, unused Captain Goodwin L
guess he must have felt like drawing
iunny pictures or something. like these
comic artists. I've been watching en- now
Do ANYTHING that YOU might call good for
me world II YOU ask me they are a
they do is eat the FISH that we ought to
be catching and selling"
NJ
MOST of the fishermen feel the
IV1 same way about this Jimmy
Durante Of the bird world, but there
is nothing they can do about It.
Game laws protect the pelican.
But the other day one of the
fishermen brought a pelican ashore,
piled him generously with corn
liquor, and turned him loose on the
maine street of the town. Appar-
entity this was a plot to give the
bird bad name with right think
ing citizens, and to prove that he
was not only worthless but a sot.
just what enect this cruel deception
has had on the community will not be
known until the next election I am told
that pelican not only reeled and staggered
IN a most unholy manner. but that be
leaned against lamp post and tore off
several bars of Sweet Adeline"
This Is one chance Sheriff Mitchell had
TO make an arrest and the fact that he
didn't IS certain to be held against him at
the polls next fall.
You ask me what kind of fish we catch
here" repeated Captain Goodwin We'll
sir, I've been here all my life and don't
know for sure yet. OF course we catch
tarpon,. groupwer, amberjacks. kingfish
channel bass. red snapper, mackereI and
al those kind of FISH. but we catch a lot
Of others that are total strangers to us. I
don't suppose anybody ever will know how
many different kinds Of fish there are in
these waters.
strange looking fish with one eve in the
center Of his head. We afterwards found
he was star gazer and that he always
kept his mouth open. and that's the way
he fed-the smaller fishes Just ran right
into his mouth. Brother I'm telling YOU
YOU sure can see some queer things down
here"
For q moment I feared the captain had
stepped out of character and was casting
rehections upon the Brooklyn outfield but
It develops, he doesn't pay much attention
10 baseball