True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 206
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206 TRUE STORIES OF OLD
accepted. Sinclair sent his champion goat and boy owner, a
young chap named Bailey, and when the race came off "Black
Bill" won and was officially declared to be the Champion Fast
Goat of the World.
The people of Houston used to turn out to welcome the Houston
Light Guard when they came back home victorious from an
interstate drill, but those Light Guard receptions sank into insignificance
compared to that given "Black Bill" when he returned
from Pittsburg. Everybody, who did not have a broken
leg, was down at the depot, and when Black Bill and his proud
owner appeared, the heavens were rent with cheers. A procession
was formed and, headed by a brass band, marched down
Main Street. It was a day of triumphant rejoicing.
I think that if proper influence were used, Sinclair could be
induced to revive those famous races. He is just as great a
favorite with the Houston boys now as he was with those of years
ago and he can get them to do things quicker and more heartily
than any other man alive.
FISHING IN THE BAYOU.
ATURDAY afternoon I saw two or three little negroes
coming across the Preston Avenue bridge, and each one
had a small string of very small perch. They told me
that they had been fishing away above Glenwood Cemetery, in
Buffalo Bayou. The sight of those fish carried me back many
years, for when I was a boy, fishing was one of the greatest delights
of my life. There were plenty of fish here, too, and both
Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou were famous fishing places.
I believe, on the whole, that White Oak was the best fishing
stream, though both were good. There were perch, goggle-eyes,
as we called them; sun-perch, gasper-gou, catfish, suckers and
last, but not least, thousands of buffalo.
There was more fun in catching buffaloes than in catching
anything else, though after we had caught them they were so
full of bones no one could eat them. We never fished for the
table, however, so the eating feature cut no figure with us. The
method of catching them was simple. We would buy some fish
berries at the drug store, mash them up carefully and then mix
them with cornmeal and cotton, so as to form balls about the
size of a marble. We would boil these in a pot and then dry
them out thoroughly. After we had prepared our fish balls we
would get in a boat and row along solwly, throwing the balls in
all the deep holes. In about half an hour we would return over
the same course and then we would find a lot of fish on a regular
spree. The berries would make them so drunk that they would
flop around on top of the water and would actually try to climb
up the banks of the bayou. All we had to do was to row along
slowly and pick them up. I believe it has been made against
the law to fish in that way now, though I don't see why, since
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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/m1/206/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.