Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1893 — TRULY A DEPRAVED CAT. [ARTICLE]

TRULY A DEPRAVED CAT.

He Killed Duckling* and Used Dead Bate to Divert Suspicion. James Grogan, a Wortendyck, N. J., peddler, who is familiarly known as “Ginger* Grogan on account of the color of his hair and the heat of his temper, owns a large yellow cat’ that, according to its owner’s story, should either be deprived of all its nine lives as a fitting retribution for its stupendous treacher or elevated to the loftiest pinnacle of honor and emolument as,the reward of hitherto unheard of feline sagacity. “Ginger” says that some time ago his house was infested with rats that not only attacked everything gnawable but established such familiar relations with the yellow cat that they often ran over her back with impunity. The peddler tried “rough on rats,” which killed half a hundred of the pests, and drove the rest from the house to the barn. This was a doubtful victory, for the banished rats began to prey upon a brood of halfgrown ducks that Grogan is raising. They would not touch any more of the “rough on rats, ” probably because they liked the flavor of the ducks better. Recently the cat took up her quarters in the barn, and remained there day and night. One morning last week Grogan, going to the barn, found the dead body of an immense rat, torn and bloody, with the cat growling over it. She had killed It but had not breakfasted from It Close to where the rodent had been slaughtered lay the bones and feathers of a duckling. Everything eatable about it had been consumed, and the cat apparently had pounced upon the rat Just as he had finished his meal. This was a very praiseworthy thing for the yellow cat to do, but when she did it on eight successive mornings her owner’s gratification was qualified by the loss of just that number of young ducks. He thought she ought to kill the rats more expeditiously, and he hid himself in the barn to ascertain why she was so slow in killing them. He says that he saw his cat kill a duckling. devour it, and then drag the hones to a position near a rat hole and wait patiently until the smell tempted a rat to come within reach of her claws. Then she slaughtered it, and sat by its body growling until her master saw her, hoping thus to direct suspicion, that might otherwise be leveled against herself, in the direction of the dead rat.