Huntsville gazette., 1886-07-03
"a GAIA BLACK CATv'
How She Brought. a Murderer t.
- %s the GallOws.

= Z .
It was past eleven o'clock when I
opened the door and the black cat
walked slowlySout and down the steps,
waiting to see if followed. turned
up the collar of my coat, for the air
was chilly, and went out again into the
beautiful. October night. The street
was as silent as the footballs of the 1.-THE
animal softly walking down the steps.
! The black cat. led the way and l fol-
lowed. Why, I do not know. Two
nights before had walked up from my
office late with friend. 1t was long
past midnight when we turned into the
quiet street where I lived, talking
about I know not what Suddenly
there stepped out of the shadow'of a
huge,tree a:black cat. Looking neither
to the right nor the left, she walked
deliberately before us. a4e
"Har' said my friend, with tragic
air, "a ia black cat! Let us follow
the cat ..- m
And then he laughed, and even as he
walked the echoes down the street,
+ can not tell why-I shivered. The cat
! walked silently along past the lower
steps of the flights leading down from
the houses, Keeping a pace or two
ahead of us. My friend left me at his
door, saying: Goodnight. Beware
of the cat l went on to my house,
not far beyond. At the steps the cat
stopped, hesitated for moment, and
then walked up to the door. Some
what surprised, followed.
lido not like cats. They seem to me
to be treacherous, dangerous brutes,
and. I am even half afraid of them.
But when the black cat stopped at my
door Undermined, for some inexplica-
BILE reason, to admit her. She seemed
to:know my room, for she walked up
the single flight of stairs before me and
entered the room as i opened the door.
/ found her stretched out on the floor
when l had lighted the gas, and if she
had lived in my room all her life she
could not have appeared more at home.
For the same inexplicable reason that
admitted the cat to my house / allowed
her to remain in my room. .s-
The next evening came in earlier:
it may have been ten O'Clock. The
black cat met me at the door and darted
by me as / stepped over the threshold.
Then, as i turned to see whittier she
had gone, felt pull at the leg of my
trousers, and saw that the cat had fast
ened claw there and was certainly
irving to draw me from the house.
stopped down and softly stroked the
animals back, at the same time Olsen.
paging her claw Then l turned and
entered the house, and the cat, after a
moment Of irresolution, followed me,
mewing strangely.
The next night she again met me al
the door,. and the effort to draw me
from the house was repeated. The de-
sire was SO apparent that was puz
zled, and, I own. "a. little disturbed.
The cat went with me to my room,
and. sitting there insthe freight, with
her bright eyes staring at me, 4 formed
purpose tosyNld' to this curious whinl
if it were again displayed. tried te
reason with myself, but reason seemed
to have given way to an impulse al
uncomfortable as it was mysterious.
Ppassed an uneasy night and then g
day, half hoping that when evening
came my unbidden and unwelcome
guest would be gone. I heard the
clocks in the houses along the street
where I lived strike eleven as walked
down toward my door: As l stepped
over the threshold saw the fiery eyes
of the cat in the dark hall. A colo
shiver passed through my frame.
trembled with an excitement as intense
as it was sudden. My heart began tc
beat SO loudly that involuntarily hele
my hands over it as if to still it. Their
summoning my resolution | followed
the cat down the steps and strobe afte1
her as she fitted down the street.
It was black night. Heavy
swollen gray clouds had been hanging
low in the sky when darkness came on
and now they drew an impenetrablt
veil between the earth and the stars
The old, winding streets of the quartei
of the town in which lived were silen