The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-06-09
[From the Washington Unionl
THE GREAT MARYLAND BLACK
CAT CASE.

pAO SAOhAOnNOuo CdSO Is now DCQQlI
er before judicial tribunal of the State
sh Maryland, and presents remarkable fe
1g lures of the ingenuity and speculate,
of capacity of the defendant in the case.-
For the benefit of the legal profe, sic
De and gentlemen generally who may wis
s. to enter a new field of speculation,
IT will give short history of the case a
g I heard it.
h Some few years ago a gentleman O
l. Maryland conceived the idea that an i'm
r mense fortune could be realized by tn
!, rearing of black cats for the sake o
C their skins. The principal obstacle t,
g the plan waB the impossibility of keep
D ing the animals together a-d preventing
j. them from wandering off, as their activ
ity, assisted by the penetrating qualities
> of their claws, would enable them to de
fly any enclosure; and at last, after much
! thinking, the idea suggested itself to his
mind that water was the only barrier
that 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 of this
plan removed, and set about organizing
the affair.
He employed an agent and put out a
circular, in which he stated that he
would give so much head for every
black cat that could be got. This ad-
vertisement was circulated through all
the counties bordering on the Chesapeak
Bay, and the negroes got hold of it.
In a short time, all the black cats
through those counties were stolen by
the negroes and sold to the agent, who
had depots established at different con-
venient points. Old ladies missed their
favorite cats, and mourned them as dead
but the negroes. melted by the price
offered, spared none. In this way, one
hundred and fifty black cats were col
lected and transported to the island
and the agent took up his abode there
like another Robinson Crusoe. as super
intendent and guardian of the cats
Those animals seemed to enjoy them
selves when first put On the island, and
spent their time either in 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 become hungry and desperate, and
roamed about the island in large bands
yelling for food. They at last became
dangerous, and the agent wrote to his
employer statement of these facts, &C.
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 order was carried out. The
cats, having the alternative of oysters
Or starvation before them, very naturally
chose the former; but not being accus-
toned to such unnatural food, a species
Of cholera broke out amongst them, and
,ne- aalf died.
This calamity drove the survivors /,
mad, and they either committed suicide,
,r in a fit of desperation swan to the !,
main land. At any rate they disap-
,eared and were never heard of more.
The agent then wrote again to his en-
,loyer to acquaint him with the result
# this new treatment, which news was
accompanied by modest request for
he pay ment of his wages-for this cat
experiment. occupied space of upwards !
# q year. The latter was SO indignant
t both the conduct of the agent and the
ats that he fatty refused, and the con-
equence of his refusal was s~at !
rought by the agent to recover his wa =
es: This suit has been defended for r
ONE two years, and during its progress
have becothe acquainted with the facts h,
AS far as the theory of the specula- 4,
on went, it was magnificent idea u
he skin of the black cat is worth in =.
ostcn fifty cents. The cats, am told
'st tho agent just that sum. It was II
opposed that they would increase ex-
'tly tenfold per annum. Then Say
st year, number of cats, $50; second ba
'ar, 500 third. year, 1900; from an
iich there could be obtained 5000 ~;
ms for sale, bringing 81, 500, and leav- ..
g 10000 stock cats remaining, which wo
the above ratio of increase, would -
7e, the fourth year, the enormous sum
100000 cats upon the island; after
ioh, all the surplus, over and above do,
, last number, were to be caught in wb
< traps, and the skins sold to the Bos- orc
furriers. This stock of 100000 4N
s we're to produce l 600 600 per an IS
N, and the. revenue consequently to
derived from the island would be in
neighborhood Of s5o0,oo0 per an our
N. by
The principal drawback to the enter his
Sc was the utter inability of the cats an
or band together for the pur- old
e of assisting each other, and thus
iliating their hunting operations SO, I
,r deep reflection upon the subject, it veg
J determined to import q couple of idle
d cats from South America, whose ted
,ture with his cats would not only self
strength to the body and value to wild