Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 195, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1911 — TRIP MAKES CAT ILL [ARTICLE]

TRIP MAKES CAT ILL

Mascot of Dubuque Can’t Stand Fresh Water Waves. Work of Repairing War Vessel Be Hastened to Bhorten Misery of Famous Feline —Was on Battleship Oregon.

Chicago.—‘‘Blue” arrived in Chicago late the other night Blue is just a cat He never won a ribbon at a cat show, yet hsi is one of the most famous felines in the world. Any one who has been in the American navy since Spanish ships furnished targetß for Dewey at Manila bay knows what a prize Blue is. In fgct, superstitious tars attribute American success in that episode largely to Blue. This famous cat was brought to Chicago aboard the United States gunboat Dubuque. The Dubuque will relieve the Nashville as a training ship for the naval reservea The Nashville is to be overhauled before the crew of the Dubuque takes charge. The work is to be done faster than any similar amount of labor was ever performed in the American navy. Why? ' Because Blue .is sick. This Is the first time in his long life that he has been on fresh water. The changed motion is too much for him. Sailors

on the Dubuque would be everlastingly disgraced if Blue gave up his ninth life on fresh water. Work that ordinarily would take^' 'month will be accomplished in three weeks. Blue was mascot on the Marietta, pilot ship for the battleship Oregon in Its famous trip around the Horn in 1898. Later Blue was transferred to the Oregon because he was a good omen. The men of the Dubuque obtained him from the battleship Georgia. He is 15 years old. "Bill” is the regular mascot of tho Dubuque. He is a small black goat and comes from Little Corn Island, off the coast of Nicaragua. He was picked up last summer when the Dubuque was patrolling the Nicaraguan coast during the last revolution. Bill weighs less than 20 pounds. He knows every bugle call on the ship. Two weeks ago he hurt a leg in jumping. The men took him fo~the surgeon when the sick call blew. Now he goes at the regular time of his own accord. The Dubuque is the first regularly manned vessel .’ of war to pass on through the Canadian docks since tho war of 1812. Only after three months of correspondence with the Canadian government was the ship allowed to pass, and then only after the guns had been unmounted. The ship made the trip from Porthmouth, N. H. t in 1C daya u is officered by CapL K. C. B. Morgan, Lieut. E, P. Finney, Lieut. F. M. Robinson. Ensign W. B. Cothran, Midshipman C. A. Lucas, Midshipman D. J. F. Friedell, Assistant Surgeon C. W. Smith and Assistant Paymaster W. R. Van Buren. In the contrast to the Nashville with its war color the Dubuque is painted white and moored off the foot of Monroe street, looks like a large yacht Its displacement is about 150 tons less than that of the Nashville.