Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1867-03-30

bed were in flames The whole house VA
blazing. It was with gres, d tfieulty that m
wife, serv.ns, and myself. made our escape
If m the conf grafton. The d-s'ruc'ion was
Complete. My entire worldly wealth was
swallowed up, and | resigned ,heusefor
TO despair.
l Am above the weakness Of seeking Ia
establish a. sesu+ nee Of cause and effect, be
tween the disaster and the s.roci,y. Bu,
am detailing a chain Of II ,ts-snd wish no,
to leave eve" a possible link imperfect. On
the day succeeding the fire, | visited the
ruins. The walls, with one exception, had
fallen in. This exception was found in a
compartment wall, not very thick, which
s,ood a"out the middle IF the house, and
against which re.ted the bead Of my bed
The plast-r'nx had here, in a gro 4 measure,
resisted The vc,ioN Of the 6re-s fact which
| attributed TO It's bav'ng recently been
spread. About this wall dense crowd were
collected. aud many persons seemed 70 be
= particular portion Of it with
minute aud eager attention. The word
'strange!' "singul~r!" and Other similar ex-
pre-sio"s, excited my curiosity approach
ed and saw, as it +ngrsven in has relief upon
the white eurface, the figure Of gigantic
cat. The impression WAS given with M 40
curacy truly marvel! Gus. There was . rope
about the animals neck.
When l 6rst beheld this appartion-for
could scarce regard it a. less-my wonder
and my terror were extreme. But at length
reflection came TO my aid. Tie cat, ] re-
menbered. had been hung in = garden ad-
jac.n, to the hoo.e. Upon the alarm OF fire,
t"'s garden had been Immediately filled by
the crowd-by soms one Of whom the s.imaI
must have been cut from the tree A. thro u
through an open window inio my chamber
This had probably been done with Tho view
Of srousi"g me from sleep. The falling OF
my cruely into the substance Of the freshly.
spread plaster; the lime Of which, with the
flames, and the ammonia from the carcass.
had then accomplished the portrai,ure ss
saw 1t.
Although had thu. readily ,ceouu,ed to
my reason, it not altogether 10 my crnsci-
euce. for the Startling fac, just detailed. i,
did no. the less fail /, make deep impress
sion upon my fancy. For month. could
no. rid myself Of tie pan asn Of the cat
and, during this period, there came bacx
into my spirit hat hal:-senlimsnt that seem.
ed, bu: was not remorse | went so far As
to regret the loss Of the ANNA aud to look
about me, among the vile haun,s which |
now habitually tr.qnented. for another pet Of
the same species, AID Of somewhat s,milar
appearance. with VII ch to suppl, its place
One night US | .st, balf stup d, in de"
Of more than ,nfamy. my attention vas sud.
denly drawn to some black object. rerosing
upon lhe bead Of one of the immense hogs
heads OF Iin or Of rum which cot sti,ut-d .he
chief furniture Of the apartment | had
bee" looking steadily at the top OF this hogs
head for some minutes, aud wha, now caused
me surprise was the fact that had no, sooa
er perceived the otj"ct thereupon. ap
preached il, and touched it with my hand.
1t was black cat-a very large one-fully
as large rs Pluto, and closely re.embIing
h'.o !" every respect but one. Pinto had
not white hair upon nny wor,ion Of his
body; tut this CO: had large although inde-
h"' spot Of white. covering nearly the
whole Region Of the breast
Upon my touching him he Immediately
arose, purr-d loudly, rubbed against my
hand, aud appeared delighted with my no
.lc,. This, then, was the very Creature of
which | was in search. | at once offered to
purchase it Of The landlord, but this person
IN .de no clam TO i, knew nothing OF it
rud aevet .e.n it before.
l .onunued my care ses, and, whom pre-.
pared 10 20 home, the animal evinced a dis
position 10 accompany me. Ipermitted it 10
do SO; occasionally stopping aud ratt'"g u
ON the back as proceeded. When it reach
cd the house i. domest'ca,ed itself At ouce,
aud became Immediately . great favori,e
with my wife.
For my own part, I coon found dislike
10 it arising With" mt. This was just the
reverse Of what had an,,cipred; butt
know not how or what it was-,ts ev,d-n,
iondne-s ior myself rather di.gu-ted and an
uoy.d me. BY slow degress these feelings
vt disgust aud annoyance rose into the bit
,erness ot hatred. | avoided the creature; =
certain sense Of shame, and the rem- mhr Ance
OF my 10, mer deed IF cruelty, preventing ne
from physcal'y abusing it. | dia not. for
sume weeks, strike or u,herwi-e violently i'll
use it; bo. gradnaily-very grsdual,-l
came to look upon it with unu,,e, able los,h-
i"g, aud to flee silently from its .dieu. pres
encr as from The breath Of u pes'ilrnce.
What added. no doubt, to nv hatred vf the
beast was the discovery, "n the morning at
ter | brought il home. ,ha, like Pluto it ais"
had been deprived Of ono Of its eyes. This
however, only esdear-d it t.
my wife, who, a. ! have already said. pos
ses-sd, in . high degree, that humanity OF
iseiing which had once been my distinguish.
ing trait, aud the source Of many Of my
simpest and pu,est pleasures
With my aversion 10 this cat, however, it's
2nrt,al,y tor myself seemrd to increase. 1t
followed my footsteps with a prrti"ac,'y
which j. would be dltiicsk to make the read
er comprehend Whenever | sat i, would
crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my
knees, covering me with its loathsome CA
resscs. II arose to walk it would get be-
tween my feet and thus nearly throw mr
down, or, fastening is iong and sharp claws
N my dress, climber IN this manner to my
breast. At such times longed TO destroy
it with . blow, was yet withheld from So
doing, partly by . memory Of my former
by absolute dread Of the beast.
This dread vas not exactly = dread OIL
5 by .ical svi.-and y, | should be at a los
huw otherwise 10 define it. am almos.
ashamed 10 own-yss. even in the ielon
coli, am almost ashamed 10 own--that tn,
terror and hontr xna which the animal ia.
-pired me, had been frightened by one OF the
meres. ch'mer.s ii would be possible T.
Conceive. NJ, wife had called MY attention
more than once 10 the character "t the m"-k
of white hair, of which | have spoken, an'
which constituted the sole visible difference
between the strange beast and the one had
destroyed. The reader will remember thai
this mark, although large, had been origin
ally been very indefinite, but BY siuv degree.
degrees nearly imperceptibls, and for q
long time my reason struggled TO reject d
tanoifui-:t had At length assumed rigor-
Gus distinctness of outline. 1t WAS n"w The
representation Of an object that l shadder te
nAms-and for this, above VII, loslhed and