Ate His Fish and His Words

     Moses Carlton, a wealthy shipping magnate from Wiscasset, Maine, threw his gold ring into the Sheepscot River and boasted, "There is as much chance of me dying a poor man as there is of ever finding that ring again." A few days later, Carlton found the ring in a fish served to him at a restaurant. Soon after, President Madison placed an embargo on American ships, causing Carlton to lose his good fortune, and sure enough, he died a poor man.