St. Mary's beacon., 1858-05-20
Tee Grea: Maryland Black-Cat Case.
''If you NEE, black cat. shave HIM to tire tail.


III you meet black cat. shave him to tire TAIL >
/ This tremendous case Is now pending before
irfiicial tribunal Of the State Of Maryland
aud presents nlany remarkable features Of the
| ingenuity and speculative capacity Of the de-
I fendant in tie case For the benefit of the lc-
gal profession anil gentlemen generally whn
may wish to enter 4 new field Of speculation,
will give short history Of the case aS heard
, it.
| Some few wears ago n gentleman If Marv-
i land conceived the idea that an immense for
! tune conld be realized by the rearing of black
/ cats f.r the sake of their skins. Tire princi-
/ pal obstacle 10 the plan was the impossibiity
Of keeping the animals together and preventing
them from wandering Of, as their activity, as
sisted by the penetrating qualities Of their
claws, would enable them. 10 defy any enclO-
sure and at last, after much thinking. the
! idea suggested itself tn his mind that water
was the only barrier that the cats would not
! pass. Being in possession of an island that
appeared to be Just suited for the experiment
he found all obstacles To the success If his plan
removed, and set about organizing the affair
| He employed an agent, and put out circu-
! lar, in which he stated that he would give so
much head for every black cat that could be
got This advertisement was cisculatcd through
all the counties bordering upon the Chesapeake
! bay, and the negroes got hold oft. In a very
short time all the black cats through those
counties were stolen by the negroes and sold To
the AGENT, who had depots established at diff
fercnt convenient points. Old ladies missed
their flvorite cats, and n"urncd them as dead
but the negroes, invited by the price offered.
spared none. In this way one hundred and
fifty black cats were collected and transported
to the island; and the agent took up his abode
there like another Robinson CruSoc as super
intcndcnt and guardian "f the cats. Those an
imals appeared to enjoy Themselves vastly when
first put on the island, aud spent their time in
either playing with each other, or hunting birds
or ground mice but at last their game failed
them, and, having no other supply of food.
they became hungry and desperate, and roam
ed about the island in large bands, yelling for
food. They at last became dangerous, and the
agent wrote t. his employer a statement of
these facts, accompanied BY request to know
how he was to feed them He wrote back to
the agent to set a couple Of negroes to work to
catch and open oysters for the cats, which or
der was carried out The cats, having the al
tentative of oysters or starvation before them,
very naturally chose the former, but, not be-
ing accustomed to such unnatural food, spe-
cies Of cholera broke out amongst them, and
one-half died
This calamity drove the survivors mad, and
they either committed suicide, or, in n fit Of
despo rltiOn, swan 10 the main land. At any
rate, they disappeared, and Were never heard
Of more.
The agent then wrote again t. his employer
to acquaint him with the result Of this new
treatment, which news was accompanied by
modest request for the payment of his wages
| for this Cat experiment occupied space of
upwards of wear The latter was so lndig-
nant at both the agent and the cats that he
fatty refused. and the consequence Of his re-
fusal Was suit brought BY the agent to re-
cover his wages. This suit has been defended
for some two years, and during its progress
have become acquainted with the facts.
As far as the theory Of the speculation went,
1t was a magnificent idea The skin of the
black cat is worth in Boston 80 cents. The
cats, am t!ld, cost the agent just that sum-
1t was supposed that they would increase ex-
actly tenfold per annum. Then say, first
year, number of cats, $50; second year, 500;
third year, $4,000; from which there could
be obtained 5000 toms for sale, bringing S2,-
500, and leaving 10000 stock eats remaining,
which at the above rat Of increase, would
give the fourth year the enormous sum of l00,-
900 cats upon the island, after which all the
surplus, over and above tie last number, Were
to be caught III box-tTaps and the skins sold to
the Boston furriers The stock Of lOO, 900 cats
were to produce 100000 per annunl, and
the revenue consequently to be derived from
the island would he in the neighborhood OF
$500, 900 per annum.
The principal drawback to the enterprise
was the utter inability of the cats to organize
or band together fcx the purpose Of assisting
each other, and thus facilitating their hunting
operation; so, after deep reflection upon the
subject, it was determined to import a couple
Of wild cats from South America, whose ad-
mixture with lis cats would not only add
strength to the body and value TO the fur. but
whose executive qualities might be brought to
bear in organizing the original settlers into
large hungng packs-and thus enable them
to successfully pursue the squirrels and ground
mice with which the island abounded-and, in
fact, to teach these unfortunate animals who
torn from the comfortable fireside, were Of
course, ignorant Of the necessities of savage life
the mysteries of the chase. He wRdily found
friend willing to procure him the new cats
Pm afraid this friend regarded the whole mat
ter as joke, but at any rate he was faithful to
his promise, and as soon after his arrival in
Rio Janeiro as possible he set some natives
| hunting. who caught two young tiger cats of
extraordinary frrocity, which he placed in a
cage and shipped to Baltimore.
When he had almost forgotten the matter he
was surprised by the receipt of letter appris-
ing him Of the arrival of these wild beasts, and
was requested 'to come forward, pay charges
ard take them away" He hurried into town
and found these young tigers about the size of
| medium setter dog, and bill of charges Of
several hundred per cent more than he had
anticipated lie paid it, and ordered two ne
grues 10 convey the beasts in a cart out TO his
| country home, for he wished to exhibit them
before he sent them down to take command oi
the island cats.
On the road Out to his place, the cats glared
and spit at the negroes in such fiendish man
uer, that, to get rid of them. they turned the
cage over on the bar side, whereby one of the
cats was SmOthered.
The survivor. being deprived Of his mate
became more f.rDcious than ever, and it be-
came a question whether it would be safe for
/ the cats upon the island to turn it Loose among
them. The owner waS'very much worried tlr:-
til bis negro man suggested that they should
Try the experiment D., putting tame cat into
the cage.