Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 111, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1917 — Marvelous Tale of the Sea [ARTICLE]

Marvelous Tale of the Sea

Monkey and Squirrel, Chums on Steamship, Commit Suicide, Passengers Declare. Bored ship news reporters who have listened indifferently for months to tales of Cuban revolutions, who have scoffed at German sea raiders because of their frequency, and have got up to walk when submarine captures were mentioned, the other day sat up with an appreciative jerk when passengers on board the steamship Santa Maria of the United Fruit line, from West Indian ports, began to talk, the New York Herald says. The story wound about the fact that the Santa Maria carried a large collection of animals which Henry Ruff was bringing from the tropics to the New York Zoological park in the Bronx. Among the animals was a squirrel and in the cage nearest was a monkey. Passengers noticed that conversation between the two was especially confidential, but thought nothing of it until one day -when the iminnrls were being aired on deck. Suddenly the

squirrel either fell overboard or jumped overboard. Without a moment’s hesitation the monkey sprang after. Neither was resotied. A question bothered the passengers who related the remarkable bccur;X>id the monkey, out of affection for the squirrel, attempt a rescue, or did the two, fearing a separation when they reached the n ßronx, form a suicide pact?