True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 208
244 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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208 TRUE STORIES OF OLD
There must have been thousands of black bass in the bayous
at that time, but no one suspected their presence because no
one knew how to fish for them. A few years ago Dick Fuller
devised a plan, or rather found suitable bait for them and since
then has caught hundreds of them above Shepherd's dam. The
fact that Dick can catch black bass is no argument that anybody
else can catch them, for he can come as near catching fish on
dry land where there are no fish, as anything. As the negro
aays: "Mr. Dick shore is a fishin' man."
Speaking of Shepherd's dam reminds me of a little natural
history I learned some years ago. When the waterworks built
the first dam across the bayou near their plant, there was a
broad sandy bar formed just below the dam. One day I took
a crab net and scooped along the bottom to try to catch some
small fish for bait. When I took the net up I found in it one
or two small flounders. I made several dips and caught several
more. It was evident that they had come up with the tide and
had been stopped by the dam. I never knew until then that
flounders bred in fresh water. I never heard of a large flounder
being caught in the bayou, so they evidently return to the bay or
gulf before they attain any size.
But then Buffalo Bayou is full of surprises. Some years ago
Dave McNally, who lived not far from the bayou, discovered a
porpoise down about the foot of Louisiana Street. It was a real
sea porpoise, too. Dave notified Albert Erichson of his discovery
and Albert went down and shot it. When it was shot it was
about at the foot of Smith Street. They pulled it out of the
water and exhibited it as long as they could, which was until
the health officer threatened to get after them for keeping a
nuisance on hand. Then they got a big pot and made oil out of
the porpoise and made a lot of it, too. I don't think a whale
has ever come up the bayou, but I would not be surprised to
hear that one had.
THUGS AND YELLOW FEVER.
AST Sunday I spoke of the first Federal troops that ever
came to Houston, "the army of occupation," and told of
the good conduct of the men and of the conservative administration
of the officers. Of course, in an army such as that,
there were "toughs" and a few of those broke out from time to
time and caused trouble. However, they did not always get
away with the play, for when a sixshooter was at that time as
much a part of a man's toilet as his boots or shoes, there were
always two sides to an attempted knockdown and robbery or the
creation of a "hot house," when circumstances did not justify
such creation. Of course while the town was under military
rule-as a fact, if not really so in name-it was not a healthy
thing for a citizen to kill a soldier, no matter what the provocation
might be, so that while two or three such killings did occur,
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Young, Samuel Oliver. True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young., book, 1913; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24646/m1/208/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.