The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-11-10
Cat Skins Very ''Toney".

held up by one suspended tied with
string, sneaked up an alley in DeGraw
street, Brooklyn, Saturday afternoon.
| In his right hand he carried half brick
and in his left the hickory handle of
| broom. Glancing up and down the
street, after the manner of dime novel
Indian scout, the lad disappeared in the
alley, emerging in o few minutes with
| the dead body of large yellow cat,
which he carried in the hand that had
| moment before held the brick. Singing
! the feline across his shoulder with
| piece of twine, the boy kicked a boulder
loose from its bed in the street, and
marching up half block to Court
street, plunged into another alley. In
ten minutes he came out swinging little
white kitten by the tail. A cruel cash
in the soft, white head showed where the
boulder had done its deadly work. With
| the expert fingers of trained hunter,
the youth proceeded to add his prize to
the string holding his other game. and
while engaged in this work, reporter
cut off his escape and demanded the
lads authority for this war of extermi
nation against cats.
For long time the young hunter sui
lenly refused to speak a word, and only
after persuasion had given place to
threats would he consent to say, dog
gedly:
"I'm going to sell 'em."
"Sell them? What are they used
for?"
.'Who buys them from your
IA man." was all the satisfaction that
could be gathered. He positively de-
II L. $lr
disposition of the cats was that a man
came for them in q wagon once a week.
He said that he lived in Harlem, ard in
common with number of other boys
had been promised good pay for all the
house.c cats he furnished. His practice
was to take the animals home, skin them
very carefully from the neck down, and
preserve the head and the fur. Fol
these the man in the wagon paid at the
rate of three cents for common yellow
and black cats, four cents for large kit
tens of the same variety, and from five te
. finer breeds. The boy thought the ful
was used for mufs, but did not know
He could not tell what disposition wa.
made of the kittens heads.
"When did you go into the cat-killine
Q
ventured.
ssAbout month or six weeks ago."
Sand how many have you sold in tha
timer"
| ST guess about 300. I usually get
about three in the afternoon and five o.
six at night. Nights is the best time fo
CATS" he explained with the air of an ex
, pert. "nights and Sundays"
( "Do you get most of them in Brook
lyn?"
ssYou see so many of the boys was a
working the same racket in New Yorl
/ that game got very scarce there, especial
} | ly up in Harlem. So me and my part
Z ner heard there was lots of cats here ant
so we come. The first night we kille,
'leven, and we had to carry 'em home il
a basket" and the little fellow CRIME.
as he recalled the rich haul. He though
/ there were at least fifty boy
] engaged in the crusade against the fe
! line race. The man employing then
= was very careful in directing how th
animals should be skinned and the ski
: salted and dried on a board. A slip o
the knife usually made the skin worth
Q less and the labor of the hunter wa
8 wssted. Different methods were en-
9 ployed by different boys in catchin
!. cats, but the Brooklyn lad found stou
It broom handle and piece of brick th
8 most effective weapons. He discourse
!; learnedly of the tenacity of life in tn
kitten, and thought they remained u
: all night in order to find time to live on
q the nine lives with which he had bee
e told they were endowed.
" A tonr among milliners in Fourteent
IS street revealed the fact that kitten
II heads were becoming more and MOI
d popular rs decorations for hsts. A blu
soft-felt hat was shown in one store, ,ha'