MR WILLMAN'S NARROW ESCAPE.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Issue 115, 15 February 1895, Page 4

MR WILLMAN'S NARROW ESCAPE.

When a person starts out to catch a fish it seldom happens that the fish catches him. Yet this was the case of Peter Willman, of Jamestown, N.Y. Chautauqua Lake, near that city, is not d the world over for its largo asic ' lie# mascalonge, sometimes weighing as much as 5u pounds, and it was with one of these monster ' lunge ' that Mr Willman had his experience. This is ■ t'ds story as told by an eye-witness, : and printed in that respectable paper, 1 Forest and Stream : Mr Willman ana ! Mr Wilson, a friend of his, went up the lake to tiol) for mascalonge. The day was fine, the waves wero dancing ; in the noonday sun as these two 1 friends stepped into their little trolling bo ts and rowed on to the lake. They had fished for some time, and were some distance apart trolling over the weeds around a little island near t'le centre of the iako. Mr Willman had his trolling line tied to his leg. On a sudden lie felt a mighty null at tie other end of the line, as if no had ook 1 a mule that palled at the halter. He hung to tne seat of the boat to keep him from being pulled overboard. After a time the fish cased up, and Mr Willinan began to haul in line. The fi-h camo along all right till he saw tho boat, which seemed to excite himself somewhat, and ho suddenly made up his mind that he would go the other way, which ho did until he came t j the end of the line, when be did not stop, but towed the beat round for a while, lie soon tired of this, and Mr Willman pulled him up again and succeeded in hauling him iLto the boat. Then a fierce struggle tooK place. Some of the time Mr Willman was on top, sometimes tho fish. Both got excited, and upset the boat. He towed Willman away from tho boat. Here the advantage lay with the fish. Ho swam round and round his body, nassed between his legs, till he had him laccd up like a Bhoe. I.i the meantime Wellman had taken a death grip on one of his oars that was floating by. Wilson saw the struggle that was going on, and started to the rescue. ! When he arrived on the scene, Willinan was out of sight. He saw the candle of the oar come up, which he ! grasped and pulled up, and found j Willman holding to the end for life, 'lis eyes v,\ reset, and as he pulled m into the boat, his head fell back, d to all appearances life wasex'inct. .Yilson Went to work to bring him to, which he succeeded in doing in a short time. Ho unwound the lino from Willman's body and legs, and then turned his attention to the fish, which was out with about- 15ft of line. He landed tho fish, which was nearly exhausted by its efforts to drown Willman, and regaiu his liberty. Only for the timely arrival of Wilson, Willnian'a name would have been M'Giuty. Tho fish weighed 38jlb. The above may read a little fishy, but this sceuo actually happened on Chautauqua Lake on September 12; hj, 1R94- ,