Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 135, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1918 — CAT FIGHTS EAGLE AND DOES IT WELL [ARTICLE]

CAT FIGHTS EAGLE AND DOES IT WELL

* FUR AND FEATHERS FLY FAST AND FURIOUS. 4 - Tom Comes Back Again and Again, a Regular Glutton for Punishment —Boy Declares "Draw.” Springfield, Mo. — While plowing near here William Ford ’ witnessed a thrilling fight between a cat and an" f eagle. It was claws and beak against claws and teeth, and resulted in a । draw. Farmer Ford saw what at first he , took to be a chicken hawk sweeping down on his barnyard. He thought i It was after a chicken and stepped to the fence. Closer inspection revealed that It was an eagle. The bird swooped, struck and rose, but, to the farmer’s surprise, it held in its talons not a chicken, but his large tom cat. .The eagle held the cat by the back. The cat's four feet were extended ind its tail pointed toward the zenith. f Forty feet from the ground the cat gave a twist, wriggled from the grasp of the bird and fell to the earth, seemingly unhurt. The bird circled . and made another swoop but this time the cat was waiting for its feathered adversary, and, when the bird struck, things happened. For about three minutes the air was full of fur and feath- : ers. The eagle withdrew baffled, to a distance of about fifteen feet, dragging one wing. The eat had its back high in the air, and both cat and eagle were hissing and spitting. Finally the cat crouched and began to creep slowly and steadily toward the eagle, its tall dragging. It’s fighting blood was up. The eagle stood with one foot lifted, turning its head from side to side, the better to observe its adversary. ■ The feathers on its neck were ruffled. The cat hugged the ground a little closer and then sprang. It evidently expected the eagle to attempt to leap to one side, for is legs were far apart. The cat, however, made a mistake. The eagle turned on its back and drove its talons into the cat’s breast and tried to strike it in the eyes, with its beak. The cat missed the bird’s neck and got its wing. Then the air again became filled with fur and ■ feathers. The farmer's little son had seen the encounter from the front of the house, and ran as fast as he could toward the scene. He was afraid his "pussy’* ‘was • going to be carried off. His shout frightened the cat and it released its hold for a minute; the bird struggled free, ran about twenty I feet and launched itself with a heavy wing and badly battered plumage into flight. The cat climbed the fence, ! mewed, licked its bloody breast and mewed again, eyeing its fleeing adversary with baleful eye and switch- ; ing tail.