They Fished in Vain
Fort Dodge Daily Chronicle: Oct. 19, 1893
They Fished in Vain
Bert Heath and Frank Barker Lost Their Horse, Never got a Bite and Hoofed it Home.
A good joke on Bert Heath and Frank Barker is going the rounds. It seems that these gentlemen got an idea into their heads that they knew something about fishing, so yesterday they got their tackel (sic) and bait together and started up the Des Moines river about six miles for a fish, and after arriving at the point there they thought they could do a good line of business, they unloaded their wagon and unhitched their horse and Mr. Barker took the animal up the river a short distance from where they had first stopped and tied him in the timber, and then went back to join Mr. Heath in a general crusade against the little minnows which they worried, until darkness had overtaken them, without any apparent success.
By this time they had wandered up the river about two miles from where they had tied their horse. Mr. Barker then suggested that they go back and get the horse and return home. There was no opposition to Mr. Barker’s suggestion, as they were not overloaded with fish to such an extent but what they could carry all they had caught, so back they went, hunting for the horse and they hunted long and they hunted late, but their search was fruitless, as it was too dark to even discover a white elephant.
Finally about 12 o’clock they gave the search up and decided to tramp it back home, a distance of six miles, and when they reached town they took an alley for home, footsore and weary. Mr. Heath could have been seen making tracks early this morning for the scene of their lost one, and returned after a two hours search with the poor old gray horse that was tied up to a tree all night.