Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1914 — Cat Shower Is Big Feature of Fire in Milwaukee [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Cat Shower Is Big Feature of Fire in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE. WlS.—“Merowrr, ps-ss-sss-t, scat, thud!! Owow-wr-wr, pssst, spit, spit, thud!!” These sounds, which cause neighbors to heave a boot at the back fence simply through force of habit, though it was broad daylight,

combined with the arrival of fire appa ratus, startled residents in the vicini ty of Farwell avenue and Kenilworth place shortly after three o'clock on a recent afternoon. A fire is an exciting thing, anyway, and even paterfamilias, enjoying the day of rest with a pipe and the Sunday paper on the davenport, gets up to see the apparatus go by. This particular fire was not only exciting; it was unique. Miss Sarah Hathaway, a kindly old lady living at

¥3l Farwell avenue, conducts a home for cats at her house. She feeds and takes care of about 100 felines of all descriptions. Accordingly, when an oil stove in the cellar set Are to rubbish collected in the basement, and smoko filled the upper rooms, pandemonium reigned among the cat lodgers. With the arrival of engine company No. 27 and truck company No. 5 the work of rescue was started. It was unnecessary to carry the rescued down a ladder. Firemen simply grabbed the tabbies and toms by the scruff of the neck and heaved them out of the window, thereby being responsible for the noises referred to above. Miss Hathaway wished to have one big Maltese cat saved in preference to all the rest, and offered a dollar to the fireman that would bring it out. The cat was obdurate, however. She was in no danger and didn’t want to be saved. Of the hundred or more cats in the building only one was suffocated, although the fire caused a damage of approximately SIOO.