Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-11-10
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
NUMBER 13
BURIAL OF A PARROT
WHOLESALE MOURNING OVER a
MUCH LOVED HOUSEHOLD PET.


Ghost-The Funeral was Large Ons
and the Furnishings Were Gorgeous.
Y There was strange scene i'll Noe
Valley, away out Castro street, ON Thurs
Ray, and those who witnessed ~ will not
roon tire talking of ID. 10 most Of those
who took part in it the occasion was
4 fraugnt with more OF curiosity than of
4 deeper interest, but il was moi SO with
all. In little front parlor at 14f4i6
Castro street stands a big empty bird
cage. Rising from the top Of the cage
a staff on which flag, hoisted half mast
high, tells tie visitor that tile one time
occupant ID dead. All around the little
doorway where she fluttared in and out
bits Of black and white still further
emphasize the fatal fact, and bouquets
/ Of flowers fitted into feeding and drink
4 ing cups and hanging from tile swinging
perch where Polly used u swing are
tokens 70 her memory.
1t was only y parrot, this recent
dweiler within those walls Of wire. but
seldom has a bird left more sincere
mourners behind it, and many a man or
woman would be proud to think that
such an elaborate funeral was in store
for MIN or her. Less than two years
ago this poor parrot was hatched out III
the wilderness Of Panama. John Stran-
aglal, an honest sailor LAD, came into
! possession 0f the bird on one of his coast
wise trips and brought it 10 his uncle's
home In Noe Valley. just one wear ago
it was presented to Mr.. and Alrs. Au-
1 gustus Tache, and ia their pretty little
home On Castro street the bird really
began to live the life that has now ~
suddenly ended. The parrots name was
Loretta, but owing To the difficulty par
rots find in prUnouncing the letter I'll she
called herself Lora, and those who
knew her and loved her learned to ac-
cept the abbreviation. Lora was the
pet Of the entire neighborhood, but she
was the apple Of Mrs. Tache's eye.
There were tears id both " Mrs
Taches eyes last evening W. she related
stories illustrating tile genins and ac-
complishments Of poor Lora. In APP
pearance the bird had been quite like
any other green parrot with gold trim
mings. Her size was roughly but kindly
stated by Dir Tache, who Is d carpenter.
She jHst fitted into box y BY 3
inches, said he And there stood the
box CD pedestal just ia front ~ the
\ empty cottage" 1T was a dainty box.
more like young lady's glove box than
a coffin, covered with blue silk and lines
with the same in quilted squares. Yes
in it poor Lora had been laid out. Bv
the silken handles on either side the
palIbearers had carried it To the grave
side, and there Ill tile darkened parlor
it now stands with the other evidences
of Il woman's strange devotion to the
memory Of u dead bird.
The lessons that LOra learned i'm her
home ON Castro street seem all to have
been good ones. She could not only talk
and whistle ike other parrots, but as
singer shs had an enyiable record. He-
Syne' Is said u have made many If tile
residents of Noe Valley weep copiously,
and Mrs. Tache herself was very much
overcome last evening in ondeavoring to
give the reporter an idea of L0ras rem
dition of '-Amid the Raging Of Sea. 4
She had 2 sweet and lovely voice, said
this fond mistress * 4 pretty pet, but
Mr.. Tache dil not seem to agree with
her. There WAS also y slight difference
CT opinion NY to the cause of Lora's de-
mise. Both agreed that the parrot died
Of cholera nurbus. but hrs. Tache de-
clarad that the disease WAS due to Mr..
Tache feeding the bird Oh watermelon.
White the latter contended that death
had been due to too freqent bathing AZ
the hands Of Mrs. Tache
Whatever the cause. poor Lora was
taken in on Monday last She was tsufT
her feed, as Mr.. Tache puts it, all ths
afternoon, and when night came she
could muster up no words from her v0-
luminous vocabulary save Poor I4oral
Poor, poor Lora-r Ii should be men
toned here that she never referred t0
herself KS Polly, and never made the
stereotyped suggestion regarding the
proverbial cracker Just ny Monday
was turning into Tuesday Mr. ana Mrs.
Tache- snugly slowed away in the ad-
ioiuiug bedroom, heard a terrible scream.
They knew Gt once that Lora WAS on her
Last legs Mrs. Iache promptly got ont
Of bad and went to the rescue. She also
did what 4 mother would have done for
a dying child. She took the bird W her
bosom ana SIT with 1t on her own bed.
Poor LUra lived But short hour longer.
After the one ahIiu scream there came
-byt these words, "By by. L0ra. by
byr They were the last words indeed.
Written by the afflicted mistress these
words are still pinned to tie wires of
the empty birdcags. The writer and
her husband are as subdUed ID their
grief as II Y child had been taken away.
The funeral took place VT y. in. on
Thursday. The neighbUrs turned outin
g0odly numbers. The house at HAS,
Castro street was crowded. and there
were more flowers than city officials
have sometimes been honored with. But
the most unique featuse of tile occasion
was the hearse. The son w Y neighbor-
Elg gr0Ceryman offered tie services of
TIL gcat wagon Certainly nothing
could have been better suited to such
service. The goat Wis q well trained
animal and did not rnn away. Two lit-
tie girls, Gay Spencer and Maggie Del-
more, carried the casket out of tile
house AMI placed il ii TIE little wagon.
Then taking their places, one IA each
side. and tile other children walking
two by two behind thcM thy led the
way up Castro street t0 CLIPPER where
III tile garden of Mr. SHun CHAN, at
Aa4. grave hsd been dug to receive al
that remained OF L0ra. The alder peo-
nle stood BY when the blue casket was
exchanged for 4 coarsar one, md when
the esrth WIS filed W above the lowered
coffin there was more than CnD genuine
gcb audiblc.-San Francisco Chronicle.
A peculiar case of poisoning by
physician was that of Ut. Stephen Ect-
vos, III Hungary, about twenty-five
years ago. Eotvos undertook tO hasten
The death w patients whose cases hc
considered hopeless liy putting them out
Of their misery, as he termed ID, with
fatal drugs. lie encountered no opposi-
ton to his peculiar methods Of benevo-
lence while he practiced them "a people
Of % particular standing But when
the doctor hastcned tile death of Y well
known land proprietor named Szlayy,
who WAS slowly dying Of cancer, the
relatives OF tile dead man presented ~
Ill., Il 4 ~