The Salmon Fishing Prank
A Tacoma society woman finds herself at the center of a Sunday prank involving a 27-pound skatefish.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A North End society belle figured as the heroine of a curious episode this morning. Two young men were on the way to Old Town to have a couple of hours sport salmon trolling, and jokingly invited her to join them. She accepted. The silver salmon were not responsive, so one of the young men, remarking that his satanic majesty was said to bait the hooks for Sunday fishermen, secretly slipped a sounding lead on the line. When the lady felt the weight, she rose and began to haul in with determination. The mystery was solved when they pulled up a 27-pound skatefish. The heroine, though elated, exacted a promise from her companions that they would never betray the secret of her Sunday fishing, showing some solicitude to get home in time for morning service.
“The heroine, although much elated with her prowess, for she has quite a reputation as a sportswoman, exacted a promise of her companions that they would never betray the secret of her Sunday fishing.”
This charming vignette captures the rigid social boundaries and religious expectations of the 1890s, where even a playful Sunday fishing trip required a secret-keeping pact to preserve one's reputation for piety.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.