The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-31 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

A DRUNKEN CABMAN,--John Shephard, a cabman, was
charged before Mr Sel!e with being drunk and incapable of
driving his horse and hansom.
Police constable 388 V said that about three o'clock that
morning ho was in the Fulham•road, when he saw the pri-
soner in the act of going on the stand. Witness thought
by his manner of driving that he was not sober. After he
got on the etand, be left hia seat and went inside his cab to
sleep.

Mr Selfe asked the constable fcr his licence.
The constable said that the prisoner's master had pro-
mised to o)me with it, but he had not done so.
Mr Selfe observed that he bad before stated that he would
not hear a charge against a cabman in the absence of the
licence.

The constable stated that the prisoner's master lived as
far as Freed-street, Paddington.
the license, which was a " clean." ono.
Mr Selfe—That may be, for ho may only have had it
about a week, He (witness) had seen

Constable—That is so, your worship.
Mr Selfe (to prisoner)—What have you to say to the
charge?

Prisoner-1 have been in the hospital, and the doctor
old me I was not to drink anything but stout, and I h-d
wo pints of stout, that made me sleepy. I have been a
licensed driver ten years, and was never fined before.
The prisoner was fined ss, and he was ordered to send
for his Huns° in order to have it signed.

THE KILKENNY CAT,—.—I have often wondered
why none of youe
co,•rc•spon _lents who are natives
Kilkenny have
given you the real version
ofof ortb oretsaiidoe:ftstbin o
Kilkenny cats, I have seen the subject
frequently noticed in
the
I have never seen the following
columns of iirotes and Queries, but
occurrence, which led to the
accurate version of the
generally-received and erro-
neous story of the Kilkennya
cats. That story has been so
long current that it has
become a proverb —" as quarrel-
some as the Kilkenny
cate two of the cats in which'city
are asserted to have fought
so long and so furiously that
naught was found of them but two tails I This is mani-
festly an Irish exaggeration .
;and when your readers shall
have learned the true anecdote connected with the two cats
they will understand Why
only two tails were found, the
unfortunate owners having tiein terror. from the scene of
their mutilation. lam happy in
in being able to state that
neither Ireland nor Kilkennyy .
occurrence, which did take place in
Kilkenny,Ei!ldisgraced by the
might have occurred in any other place
er in the but which
During the rebellion which occurred in Irelandnoiawnl7
world.o
(:or
may be in 1803) Kilkenny was _
garrisoned by a regiment of
Hessian soldiere, whose custom it was to tie together in one
of their barrack rooms WO CUR by their tails' and then to
throw them face to face across a line generally used for dry-
ing clothes. The cats naturally got infuriated and scratched
each other in the abdomen until death ensued to one or
both of them, and terminated their sufferings. The officers
Of the corps were ultimately made acquainted with these
barbarous acts of cruelty, and they resolved to put an end
to them and to punish the offenders. In order to effect this
purpose an officer was ordered to inspect each barrack-room
daily, and to report to t
The he comuetnandi.nß Officer in what state
he found the room. crl soldiers, determined not to
lose the daily torture of the wretched cats, generally em-
ployed one of their comrades to watch the approach of the
officer, in order that the eats might be liberated and take
tefuge in flight before the visit of the officer to the scene of
their torture. On one occasion the " look-out man"
neg-
lected his duty, and the officer of the day was heard ascend-
ing the barrack stairs while the cats were undergoing their
customary torture. One of the troopers immediately seized
a sword from the aren.raek, and with a single blow divided
the tails of the two eats. The cats, of course, escaped
, through the open windows of tne room, which was entered
almost immediately afterwards by the officer, who inquired
what was the cause of the two bleeding cats' tails beingsuspended on the clothes line, and was told in reply that
" two cats had been fightll3g in the room ; that it was found
impossible to separate thew; and that they fought so despe-
rately that they had devo.ure,d, each other up, with the
exception of their two tails; which may have satisfied
Captain Scheramelkettel, but would not have deluded any
person but a beery Prussian;—Notes and Queries,
THE OLD MORGLIF. AND . THE NEW.—Among
recent demolitions in Paris Is that of the old well-
known Morgue. Not that this MuFee des Marts has ceased
to exist as an institution, for a much larger Morgue has
been erected on the island immediately behind Notre Dame,
In this new building every arrangement calculated to carry
into effect the objects of the establishment has been adopted.
' In one apartment, lighted in the most effective manner, are
1 12 slabs of black marble, on which the unfortunate dead are
laid ; and in another apartment are 14 similar Blebs, destined
for bodies that have become so decomposed t hat recognition
is no longer possible. Bath-rooms are abundantly supplied
with water; which falls continuously lon the bodies.. The
clothes appertaining to the latter ace suspended in a room,
, in a very conspicuous manner, and, unless identified, remain
exposed for a year,