Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1882 — A Georgia Catfish. [ARTICLE]

A Georgia Catfish.

In the early days of Borne, about forty years ago, a poor widow, a Mrs. Parks, oooupied a rude habitation abont sixteen feet square, constructed of rough polos, on the site where Dr. Gregory's residence now stands. This poor woman had two children—the elder a stout, robust girl about 18 years of age, Martha by name. The other was a boy of 7. One day Martha, who took in washing to help support the family, went to the spring near the house, on the banks of the Etowah river, to do some washing; her brother was with her. On arriving at the spring, whioh is only a few feet from the river, she noticed an enormous catfish lying in the cool branch of the spring in water nearly deep enough to float the fish. A batteau was fastened to a tree near by % and stepping to the boat she seized a paddle, and, quick as thoueht, dealt the monster ii«h a blow on the head which stunned it, and the little boy, Scruggs Parks, jumped into the stream and seized the fish, but in his excitement and attempts to secure the prize he thrust both hands into the gills of the fish. The frills closed on them with a vise-like grip, and the fish in floundering about with the boy at length struck water deep enough to support him, and, with head to the river, with a mighty effort shot into the stream with the speed of an arrow, the boy on his back. A moment of terrible anguish and suspense to the poor sister, who was a helpless observer of all that was passing, and the catfish landed high ana dry on an island some sixty or seventy feet from the shore, with the boy in a fainting, frightened and half-drowned condition. The cries of the sister soon brought men on the scene, who took the boat and iu a few minutes landed fish and boy on the shore of the river. The fish weighed sixty-five pounds. The editor ©f the Bulletin says : We vouch for the truthfulness of this story, getting the facts, as we do, from an old citizen, who was an eye witness to the rescue of the boy from the clamp of the gills. There are a few other citizens still living in Borne who will remember the incident, which created some excitement at the time of its occurrence.— Rome (da.) Bulletin.