Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — A Story of a Turtle. [ARTICLE]

A Story of a Turtle.

A dead turtle, a turtle with a history, was found the other Sunday at the foot of Aiderman Donnelly’s yard, No. 416 East King street, says a Lancaster (Penn.’ paper. There is au authentic record thai this particular turtle was more that fifty years old. He had been an inmate of the yard as far back a's Aldermat Donnelly’s recollection goes, and old poo pie in the neighborhood say they knew him or heard of his presence there when the property was owned by the Rodgen family. As regularly as the first warm days of spring came around the turtle would emerge to the surface of the ground, and thereafter he would be seen until late in the fall. For the past ten years the Donnelly household has watcheel these appearances with much interest. and the turtle' became known tc the whole neighborhood. Several years ago a board was placed at the side,of an iron trough at the foot of the yard, and up this iuclineel plane the turtle crawled each morning to get a drink of water. One time he fell in and was nearly drowned. Never afterward would he go to the trough. He then made daily visits to the hydrant in the front part of the yard, and after quenching his thirst he would drag himsell slowly to the other end of the lot. He was last seen late in the fall, and when this spring came and he did not appear, a search was made for him. He was found among a lot of stone, tin cans, etc., dead. He was surrounded on all sides by a barrier, and it is probable that he crawled into the place and was overcome by the cold before he burrowed into the earth. Starvation and cold caused his death. When found he was standing in an almost perpendicular position, with his head between twj stones.