Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1886-11-11
A HUNTING CAT.
The Fearful Product of Uncle Abe's
Ingenuity.
Jacl<man's Cat Catches Tarrar-A Ter
rified and Conscience-Smitten CoIored
conference.-the Feline Nimrod FL
naly Comes to a Sad End.

"Wall," said old Uncle Abe Praeter,
rs, seated in his favorite corner, he
listened to various hunting yarns told
by number of his chums, "wall, you
fellers may talk about yer huntin' dogs
and huntin' oxen and huntin' pigs, but
i onct had a huntin' cat that wus not
to be sneezed at"
"a hunting cat, Uncle Abe?" queried
one of the boys.
''Ya-a-s, a .huntin' cat; all my own
invention, too, she wur, and bullyer
huntin' animal never wus seem"
''You invented the cat, Uncle Abe?"
''Wall, yas, invented and manufac-
tured her to a considerable extent. At
that time was livin' down in Ten
nessee, in Bledsoe County. nigh to the
Sequatchie river, bout four mile from
Pikeville, the county seat. 1t wur
kind of mountainous country, but
thar wur plenty of little valleys and.
flats for all material aggeracultural
purposes and pursoots. Coon. pos
sum- ground hog, quail and all SIGH
game bein' plenty, with every here and
there bee tree, folks didn't need to
bother with the sile more than what
wur needed to raise patch O. corn or
buckwheat, with few youber peas,
sweet pertaters, gourds and other SIGH
artickies o garden sass"
but about the cat, Uncle Abe?''
- ''Wall, I'm comm to the cat; and
she wur mostly all my own invention.
1t wur the durndest place thar fur rab-
bits that l ever seed. A Teller could
git bout half his meet off'n rabbits
alone. Most any afternoon long bout
four o'clock you could see half Il dozen
to nine rabbits skippin' about an
playin' hide-an' seek on the little
grassy patches among the bushes.
Them DAYS / had stump-tailed cat
that was naturally great fur ketchin'
rabbits, but l hit on plan that made
her the boss rabbit ketcher in Bledsoe
County. She wur jist about the size
and color of a rabbit, and had about
the same length of tail. So / gifts and
skins the head of n rabbit, tans it nice
" and fixes eyelet holes in it to lace it
up with. / made it in SIGH way that
when it was put on my eats head and
laced up under her jaws it wur first
rate fit, with ears stickin' up as nat raj
as life. Two steps away yer couldn't
of told her from the best rabbit
that ever hoped. l soon got her
trained and used to reg Iarly 60 out
huntin' with her, havin' more fun than
little. Nothing wasn't afraid of her
in her disguise. She could go right
up to any thing, and L used to ketch
as many rabbits, quail. pheasants.
squirrels, birds, and all SIGH small
game as 1 could pack. She'd 60 right
in among a flock of quail-what we
call cartridges back thar-an' pick up
half dozen before they got over beins
astonished.
.'But the greatest fun wur among
the rabbits. When we'd get to a place
whar several rabbits war skippin'
about and havin' a bit of fun ali to
themselves, I'd get behind tree or
stump and let the cat go ahead and in
terjuce herself inter the frolic. 1t wur
amazin' to see how easy them rabbits
wur tuck in. One of 'em would come
skippin' up to the ole cat as she sat
thar with her rabbit ears a-stickin'
straight up, and would begin some
tocular familiarities with her, when
{. she'd take him by the back of the neck
aud he'd pass in his cnecks without so