The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-09-27
Il TERRIBLE TAIL.

It was the mournful hour of midnight, when
graveyards do not yawn as persistently as they
used to- when young men turn sommersaults
over chairs and land on their heads In coal scut.
Ties Just when they most desire to be quiet when
locomotives Rowland crIckets screech and dogs
DO most delight to bay the moon. Such was the
time that opens our narrative
The waning moon was brilliant and shone
down with mellow, svery sheen upon an indi
vidual who roasted high upon back yard fence in
the End ward. This individual was cat. Upon
the roof above, which covered culinary depart
ment and faced reposlng room, roasted several
other individuals. These, too were cats The
reason we place the solitary cat below on the
fence, Is because there was bigger one on the
roof which was too much for him. In all the
glory OF the midst of night, they held picnic
and roasted, clawed, sang split shingles and spit
Republican torch light professions from their
eyes. Such were their dispositions
But look In the shadow of the caves below
there appears figure. II is the figure of that
which we should call man. This man, by any
other name, would be Bashi Bazouk. eau.
tiously he steals along In the deep shadow. His
eyes are bloodshot and CLEAN with glance of
desperate determination, His hair is unkempt
and he is attired in night habilament and pants
so 10 utter It, He holds in his hand an instru.
ment OF death. II is gun, musket which was
doubly loaded before the Mexican war, but he
does not know It, If dynamite increases It's ex.
plosive power with age, this gun was loaded with
dynamite in ls40. This riaeman isn't after coons
or Nez Perces, he Is after cats. He approaches
tree-a pear tree forked near the ground. Stealth
lily he assumes CreedmOor attitude on the grass
behind the tree, and with deadly aim he re.
poses his weapon in the crotch of the tree and
draws bead. He pulls the trigger-the man, 0,
where is he? We shall see presently. First let
us tell of the cats for there Is the least of them
All that was left Of the twelve was the tail of the
one on the fence, pinned fast TO a post with the
ramrod of the gun. Every other tail, leg, claw,
tooth and hair, had atOmized-reverted to that
whence 1t evoluted. But to the misguided
marksman. The neighbors were awakened by
the earthquake; hurled from their beds and tum-
bled In all contortiOnate shapes across their
rooms, When they came to their senses, they
went to search for the causes and effects of the
racket, and two hours afterward, In the paer
light OF the moon, which had itself been knocked
three degrees back to the east they found the
man trying to pry the lobe of his left ear out from
under the band of his shirt with the stump of his
right thumb, while what remained of his left
digits were feeling around in the grass for stray
pieces of his decortlcated scalp. AS he used to
be chrome peddler, his cheek resisted the at.
tack successfully They hunted him up all of
him, and carried him in, and shortly afterward
there was row with the door bell of 2nd ward
physician and surgeon, and general skirmish'
ing for bandages and plaster. All that was ever
found of the gun was that ramrod which holds
fast to the end of our tail to prove our Veracity.