Never seen this before

Somehow my browser tried to download every single message in my inbox.
I stopped it but has about a thousand [blah].eml.part files in te browser download directory.
Trying to use ls to display them got
'invalid line width'
rm crashed on a file that allegedly began with a minus, but the suggested workaround didn't work. (rm '-[blah].eml.part)
Fortunately the directory was accessible by my Linux Mint GUI and I highlighted them and selected 'delete' and they all went away peacefully, if reluctantly.
One of the few occasions the command line failed to be quicker than the GUI.  And in fact failed altogether..
--
  “A leader is best When people barely know he exists. Of a good leader, who talks little,When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,They will say, “We did this ourselves.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching