Daily Republican., 1879-07-21
TyBsTBRDAY's SAws.
A CHASTITY TENEMENT ACENF.
The Corpse Of AN Old German Torn
lo piece n by Pet Cas-.

I" piece by Pet Cats.
An old German bachelor named Fer
dinand Armried lived alone, with 20 pet
cats in back room on the first floor of
the tenement No. l39 Forsyth street.
He had resided there in that Peculiar
companionship for so many years that
the German residents OF the n-ighbor-
hood long since ceased to give any heed
to his oddities, aud allowed him to 20
on in his queer way unmolested.
He was known AS "the old bachelor, "
and had no Associates but his pet cats,
Of which he took ,Ee best of care. He
made good living by acting as agent
tor tea company. During the greater
part OF Tuesday night the miseries of
the sleepi-ss neig hbors, who lay toss
ing about in the sweltering heat, were
greatly aggravated by the unusual
cries Of the Arnried cats, which kept
up a dismal and diatOlical hOwling all
through the night and morning and
until 2 O'Clock in the afternoon. As
heir savage noises seemed to grow
NOR furious every nonent, MIR. Au-
gust ScheslaD, a resident of the ten--
ment, lost all patience, and went up to
Armried's door to tell him that he mDst
either keep bis cats quiet or move out
of the house. Sheslan raped vigor-
ously at Armried's door, but got no an
swer except from the cats which howled
at him fiercely.
After some reflection the idea dawned
upon Sheslan that the trouble among
the cats was caused by the thoughtless-
ness of Armried, who, he cenjectured,
had gone away after locking his cats up
in the room without food or water. Im-
pressed with this idea, Scheslan's
heart softened toward the imprisOn-
ed telines, and he determined to climb
up and open the transom over the door
and liberate them. He opened the
transoln, peeped into the room, and
then fell suddenly to the hall floor.
Picking himself up, he ran as fast as he
could to the Tenth Precinct police sta
tion, where he cried out to Capt.
Allaire, "Old Bachelor Armried is layin
dead in his room, an his 20 cats was
eatin' his body all up !" The Captain
at once sent two policemen to the place.
They broke In the door of Armried's
room and were met by a stencil that
for moment drove them back into the
hallway.
Returning, they found Armried's
dead body lying on the floor much de-
composed and covered with great holes,
which the cats had eaten out, having
evidently lived upon the remains for
many hours. At the approach of the
officers the cats crept close to the body,
and while some of them set up dis
NAL moan, others actually ate of the
flesh. The beasts could only be driven
from the body with clubs, and the Off
GERS had great difficulty in beating them
from the room, as many of them fought
savagely, and even then they secreted
themselves in the dark corners of the
Railways and continued their blood
curdling screeching.
1t was found that Armried had been
dead over "a hours, that he had died
in closed room surrounded by his
pets, and that, there being nothing
else in the room for them to eat, the
cats, when they became hungry, fell
upon their masters corpse, tearing from
it great quantities of flesh, which they
devoured. The body was removed to
the Morgue by ,rder of Coroner Volt
man, and the room was thoroughly dis.
infected.