Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1886-05-18
THE ILL-OMENED CAT. :.

| Capt. Rockwell OF the schooner Fame.
i" occurred about ten years ago on Lake
| Michigan.
II was then In command Of the
schooner Gordon and In the grain
| trade.
lone afternoon, Just before we were
ready to tow out Of Chicago, stranger
came aboard with big black cat In
| rude cage and offered her for sale.
II was born with constitutional
hatred Of cats. On board OF grainer
| there are plenty Of rats and mice. but
| I'd rather have the vermin running over
| ne in my sleep than to keep a cat
| aboard, as many vessels do.
"Outside of my hatred for cats I
lidn't like the looks of the man. He
vas a rough-looking fellow with a
cock eye and two or three front teeth
hanging out to windward, and il I'd
have wanted some one to do bit of
irty work I'd have picked this chap
from among q thousand.
~ sent him off in hurry. as you may
guess, but as he reached the wharf he
turned the cat loose and eried out:
My curses on the ship and crew
forever!
"The feline might have run into the
,levator, but she didn't. She just
crambled right aboard Of us, and in
| whisk was out Of sight down the
main hatch.
"Some of the men looked bit SER
)us, and some treated the matter as
. joke, and just before night we
ere towed out and had fair wind
20 lay our course.
The matches were all battened
.lown, OF course. and nobody seemed
o have given a thought to the cat
lille getting out Of the harbor.
(" 1t was as fine June night as
ou ever saw, with a moon SO bright
lat you could see a vessel a mile
way, and breeze to send US along
about five miles an hour.
Well, we had made everything ship
,hape, and had supper, when that black
at was suddenly seen on the end of
he jibboom. She was looking inboard
1t US, her hair on end and her eyes
Glazing.
II brought up my revolver to have
= shot at her, but Just as was
bout to pull trigger the cat yeowled
ut in q dismal manner, and down
lme the peak of the mainsail the
Alliards showing as II they had been
1T clean across with sharp knife.
They were new, stout ropes, and
obody could say they had been broken
y any sudden strain.
1--WE had to reeve new ones, and
hen this job was finished went for
ard to put bullet into that cats
cad. She set up O dismal yeowling,
nd as pulled trigger down came the
hole foresail, both throat and peak
lllards having parted.
~ hoped l had killed the black
ITCH but when the smoke lifted we
wv her In the same place, safe and
)und.
Every man aboard agreed that the
allinrds had been cut with knife,
al as the men passed them from hand
> hand they began to mutter against
10 for trying to bring about calamity
y seeking the cats life.
"By the time we had the foresail up
gain the cat had disappeared. and going
10 one knew whittier, and the weather had
uddenly changed until the moon was
.yercast, and the breeze was a third
trongcr.
Z s.yer saw that craft steer as she
lid that night She'd yaw and swing,
and go wild. In spite Of all the best
sailors on board could do.
BY the time we we're off Wauke-
gan there was smart sea on, and
nasty look all around. The wind
gradually hauled Into the northeast,
and We had to go In stays, and make
loards dead to the east, and then gain
ca the other leg as we ran to the
northwest
Every time we went in stays the
schooner acted like balky colt, lust
barely keeping US out Of irons. and the
ugly cross sea banged her about until
everything groaned.
I'VE were about to go In stays for our
board to the northwest, and the men
were aloft to care for the topsails,
wien tho Gordon slipped into hollow
and rolled port and starboard like
stuck whale trying to get rid Of
There was a loud squall from the
cat. which creature. 1t appears, was in
the mainmast crosstrees, terrible
scream from the sailor and as the
Gordon rolled to starboard he was
lung clear off her side by thirty feet,
and went down like a stone.
BY this time the crew were 80
worked up that nobody would turn In,
and every man seemed to be momen-
tarily expecting some new disaster. 1t
came before midnight.
The wind hauled dead to the north
and grew stronger, and as we came
about from a run to the northwest, the
Gordon missed her stays, was taken
HAT aback, and several calamities fol-
lowed. Three or four seas boarded us
and swept the decks, the foreboom
jibed and crushed . sailors skull, and
jib and outer jib whipped loose, and
went sailing away with the wind.
We came within an ace Of being
dismasted. for the men covered down in
ab1ect terror. and the mate and myself
had the whole work on our hands.
We finally got her head of, and
ratched away for the Michigan shore,
but before daylight she sprang a leak,
and We made Grand Haven only by
the skin of our teeth, with our cargo
damaged more than S.. 900.
From an hour past midnight to
broad daylight that Internal cat kept
up a steady walk between the two
masts on the triantic stay, and now
and then she would utter o yell which
brought all our hair on end.
Taken altogether we suffered loss
OF over $4,000 and lost life, and 1t
was all on account Of that ock-eyed man
and his black cat. q
mo sooner had We got into port than
everybody except the mate ran away and
the cat leaped to the dock with a fare
well yeowl and took refuge In pile of
lumber.