Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-04-25
RED TAPE,
AS Exemplified In a st. Louis steam
bOatman's Effort TO Have the Car
,easS OF Dead Feline Re
moved From the New
Orleans Wharf.

New Orleans Times: Fridays records
at the city hall show rather an amusing in
cident, illustrative of the total absence of
red tape and formality in the workings Of the
municipal governmental system. An officer
of the hsroor precinct, taking his morning
stroll and tour of inspection III search of
depredat0rs, comes suddenly upon the body
of cat, lately defunct. The officer, inn
pressed with the importance of the event,
alter carefully roting the looks of the corpse,
hurries to the station. The commanding
officers are called together, hurried consul
tation held and the corpse finder examined.
A reference to the book of rules and regula-
tons for the government of the force, some
more consultations, and it is decided that the
chief of police must be notified. The trusty
clerk and the operator are at once sum-
moned, the facts OF the case conhded to
them, and message is soon whlrllng over
the wires to the central station. There the
operators eyes begin to open as he reads:
HARBOR PRECINCT,
NEW ORLEANS. April lS, 1879
THos A. BoYLAN, CHIEF-Officer Clew reports
dead cat at the head of GIaEier street, where the
B. CALVIN, Captain Commanding.
Per D. CROWLEY, Clerk.
The message is at once borne to the chief.
Some more clerks and secretaries are sum-
moned and few more law books consulted,
After turning over an innumerable number
of pages, it is at last decided that the matter
should properly be referred to the city hall.
A happy solution of the difficulty has been
arrived at, ard the report, Endorsed as fol-
lows, is transmitted to the city hall:
April IS, 1872 RESPECTFULLY referred to Hon. j.
d. Houston, administrator of Improvements.
THOS. A. BOYLAN, Chief OF Police.
1t is to be hoped that the departme Mt Of
improvements Is duly impressed with the I'M
portance of the matter, yet the same routine
is gone through. A careful perusal of the
statute books shows that the jurisdiction of
the department ends at the waters edge,
while the foolish feline had given up the
ghost scme eight or ten yards away from that
point. The corpse must then be within the
jurisdiction of the department of commerce.
terrible responsibility IS lifted from the de-
partnens of improvements, and the original
report, Reimbursed as follows, is transmitted
to the administrator of commerce:
April 49, 1879 Respectfully referred to Hon. j.
Henry Behan, administraIor OF commerce.
JAMES POLLOCK, Secretary.
And now another trouble is begun. The
report Is submitted to the administrator for
his inspection. The employees of the depart
ment VIZ o patrol the river front are about to
be notified of the tenor of the report, and di-
rected to proceed to the spot indicated and
abate the evil complained of. The proper
officer, armed with the necessary papers, is
dispatched to the scene near the close of the
day. NerVed to the Jealous performance of
his duty, he reaches the landing putting and
persplring, only to learn that some hours
before the ubiquitous and indefatigab!e Cap
tain Bixby, of the City of Alton, had come
across tae Objectionable carcass, and, un-
aware of the intentions of the city anthori-
ties, had called a rOustabout to get shovel,
ard with it precipitate the rapidly -dissolving
wreck Of feline animation across the guards
of the steamboat into the muddy deep.