Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1912 — SACRED CAT STOLEN [ARTICLE]

SACRED CAT STOLEN

Young Sailor Man Strays Into a Temple In Bombay. Escapes Through Crowds of Pursuing Hindus With the Feline Guard Clawing at His Spinal Column. New York. —A daring apprentice who had the audacity to steal Into a Hindu temple and kidnap a sacred cat is the hero of a tale that the British tramp steamer Harpagus brings to the port of New York. The Harpagus’ apprentice, Albert Berrige, passed behind the veil of one of the most sacred temples of the Hindus in Bombay and saw with his Caucasian eyes the great idols and returned to the outer world with the sacred cat. The cat once bore, no doubt, a strange Indian name, but since joining the British tramp the sacred feline has been dubbed Tommy. Tommy is aw black aB the conscience of a bigamist and is not very different from the cats of New York. Black cats bring good luck to ships that plow the seven seas, so Tommy Is held In great esteem aboard the Harpagus, almost as great esteem as when he was a sacred cat in a mystic Hindu temple. While the Harpagus swung at her anchor off the City of the Dreadful Night, as Kipling called Bombay, towering domes of the Hindu temples kindled Albert’s imagination and be

chafed at the hit until he had obtained shore leave. “Be back by Sundown, young man,” ordered the captain as the apprentice, went over the side midday. There was so much to Interest Albert that he forgot altogether the captain’s Injunction to be back to the: Harpagus by sundown. Darkness had enveloped the city when Albert reached one of the Hindu temples, probably the most sacred in all Bombay. There was a special celebration going on at thq temple and crowds of the faithful reverently were wending their way up the broad steps anil 1 through the doorway. Albert bad not been told that all but Hindus are barred from tbe temples, and with true apprentice audacity he joined In the throng and, undiscovered in the crowd and in the darkness, he passed through the entrance and found himself within the sacred place. “Suddenly I felt something hit me In the middle of the back. Then I felt sharp claws digging into my hide. The next Instant I was traveling like a meteor toward the temple entrance and every man jack of those Hindus in pursuit. The howls of the Hindus and the claws of the cat inspired me to the effort of my life. I think I could have broken all the running records In the world with that encouragement,” said Albert In telling of his experience. “The Hindus' soon were distanced. I muts have run for a mile with that cat clawing at my spinal column. Then when I got up a dark street. I' stopped and tried to dislodge the cat I finally had to take off my coat to get the beast to release his claws. “After I had Mr. Catty in my arms he was as docile as you please and purred in real cat fashion. So 1 saya to myßelf, it’s a black cat and that means good luck. So I’ll take him. to the HarpagUß. I had some fun explaining why I was so late, but I had the cat to prove my adventure in tbs temple and the old man let it go at that”