Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-01-20
BUSTER. THE SAILOR CAT.
He Deserts ,hc Navy and is IgnominI-
ously Struck or The Roll.

hld On SNlp-DOdIu- dllu any ohiP eiis't +"
stray puSs may select as home Is sure
of smooth seas and favoring gass If puSS
is well treated. But woe TO ship that
the sorrieSt puss deserts, and woe to the
sailor who hurts cat at sea. Misfor-
tune follows hard after them both.
Buster is about as fine cat as ever
went 10 sea. He belongs TO Lieut.
Commander Joshua Bishop of the United
States ship Minnesota, at the foot of
West Twenty-Seventh street. \. Y. He
has been in almost every port in Europe.
Africa. and South America, and as a
result of his varied experience and eX-
tensive travels has diStingue air and a
blase expression that no Fifth avenue
cat can match. The affection of the
average seagoing man for his cat is
a mere nothing compared to the deep
and abiding affection with which Lieut.
Commander Bishop cherished Buster.
Until the 9Th of December Buster SEEM
el to reciprOcate. He slept in the Com
mander'S statero0m, ate under his table,
and lay in wait to claw him playfully
for true heart and not for harm, On
| the 5th. however. Buster elOped and de-
serted the ship. Personal search and
advertising failed, and the crew made
everything shipshape for the calamity
| that was coming.
On the seventh morning after Buster S
| fitting the sentry on the pier heard a
| faint miow. that seemed to come from
the plank beneath him. He called the
first officer. The miow was repeated.
Its him. sir. - said the sentry, and the
first officer yelled Buster" in stentor-
| ian tones. There was an unmiStakable
Busterian yOwl in answer, and, after
two sailors had taken boat and crawled
under the pier on the stringers, Buster
was dragged out, the most w0beg0ne
and penitential cat that ever wore fur.
But there was enough of him left to
save the ship, and the Commander was
| so glad to get him back that he forgave
him. and sat down and told a reporter
all about Busters life On the ocean
wave.
Buster WIS born in March 1879, a.
Portsmouth, Va. where the Command
| er cot him. His first effort at useful
ress was to dig up bedful of phloN
| seeds that the commanders wife had
planted. This gave him the additional
llliLF Ol LAtA. III LpCAtlAlbNA. 4NCN.
Mr.. Bishop was ordered to Europe as
/ executive officer Of the United States
ship Galena. Buster went along too.
Before sailing the ship went into dry
dock at Baltimore. and Buster ranged
around the city and saw good deal OF
Baltimore society. Thence the Galena
went 10 Norfolk. and Buster had more
society. and left some of his right ear
there. From Norfolk to Gibraltar Bus
ter STAYED below. The reader who re-
members his first voyage will sympathize
with Buster. As soon as he saw land
through port, Buster emerged from
his retirement, and took to climbing up
the rigging and sitting at the cyosstrees,
From this elevated station he saw the
ports of the Mediterranean, Smyrna, Sa-
lonica. the island of Chi0s, where the
Galena went TO relieve the earthquake
sufferers, Athens, and MeSSina. At
| Constantinople Buster had thoughts of
turning Turk. and, indeed, made sever
al overtureS to this effect. But the
population received his advances coldly.
| From Constantinople the Galena went to
Bordeaux. and here Buster led the life
of a debauchee. He had the run of the
| town, and on any fine evening might be
seen on the streets, and often on the
uuincunxes. the grand square where the
military promenade. Bordeaux Is the
( heart Of the wine trade, and here it WAS
| that Buster learned to drink claret like
milk. Before he was wholly demOral-
lied by the gay life of France the Galena
| was off again. and Buster with her
| 4 Y Nra1arra / anbnrtn
Valencia, and Palermo: then TO Villa
! Franche. and thence down the African
] coast to the CanaTies. Sierra Leone,
Cape PalmoS, Cape Verde, and back to
where the peak OF TeneTiffe rises grand
| and deSOlate from the waves; 10 Madei-
| IA. and then to Alexandria, where the
English were getting ready to lombard.
| Buster spent a month baSking III the
| Egyptian sun and rambling. about the
ship, elcvating his tail whenever he saw
one of the 200 refugees that had taken
shelter OF board.
From Alexandria the course was
straight 10 Rio. South America. Bust
er had lived 50 high III Bordeaux that
when the ship struck blue water and
the fresh meat and claTet gave out and
| nothing was to be had but salt junk, he
utterly refused TO eat anything. His
admirers were in despair. Canned
coIned beef hadn't a charm, and devilled
chicken made him angrier than arefugee.
Lieut.. Bishop said to him one day, when
he had refused food for g week:
j Buster. I'm sorry, but you will have
to Starve, old boy, for all | can do FOR
YOU"
Buster did not say much. He only
scratched the Lieutenant little deeper
than uSusl, and started for the ships
hold. In ter minutes he came back
with a rat, and after spreading the
rodent out for inspection, he made a
meal off il. When the ship reached Rio
there wasn't Il rat in the hold.
Buster was always sick in rough
weather, and would crawl into the Com
mander's bunk and lie there III wretch
, edueSs until good weather. When
ashore Buster assumed the airs of a
Nelson, and impressed his fellows as a
man-o'-war's cat, but in reality he was
the most arrant coward about guns,
When there was any firing he would
sc0ot up the rigging 10 the crosstrees
and after a wild scramble would dart
down the shroudS and take refuge in the
darkest corner Of the ship, There he
would cover for hours until the Com
mander came 10 find him.
After returning 20 America. Buster
lived in Washington, in Phillipsburg
y. J.. and New York. He was fright
ened by the salutes fired In honor o.
Vice President Hendricks, and as soor
as possible ran away from the ship
There was rejoicing on the gun deci
/, when he came back, as related above
But the Commander though he forgav;
him. will not trust him now, SO Bustel
was sent back TO rhillipsburg in has
! Set. For a cat that had seen half th'
: world, in man-of-war, to come as Low
7 as basket, was.a blow. Busters spiri
, is broken. He no longer plays the par
Of foreign potentate to the Phiilipsbur!
cats, as at his former visit, but sits OF
= the fence and growls ike any common
cat.