Memphis is in a profuse perspiration. A very large codfish has been caught with a lady's hand in his possession. The question which now agitates the souls of Memphis Editors is, How did he come by it? It is of course impossible to arrive at the exact facts of the case; but quite a plausible conjecture may be offered. It is not unreasonable to suppose that a select party of mud-maids were sitting in a parlor cave of the Mississippi, engaged in a subaqueous game of poker. That codfish happened along and took a hand in. (NYT, 21 June 1860, p. 4)There are several interesting elements of this story, besides the gruesome mystery and the awful climactic pun. What was a cod doing in the Mississippi River? So far as I can tell, cod are salt-water fish. Apparently some fish are called "cod" because their taste resembles cod, even though they're not closely related. But what fish are they talking about?
Also, what are mud-maids? This story will continue as I search for some answers.
P.S. "Subaqueous" is a cool word.
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