The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-13
A HOLE FULL OF CATS.
THE FUN had BY TWO BOYS OF
PENNSYLVANIA WILDS.

| llreo Oh EldubluR GOL6JOS6 4hOH
Thought They Gould Make More
Killing Mountain Screamers-Row
They Were Wrecked In Rut.
From the Pittsburo Dispatch.
ROULETTE, Pa, July When was
fishing down on Barley run, Doc Barnes
came in one day and said he had just been
up to farmer Ben Pomeroy's and Jim
Cranes, taking some stitches in Ben's boy
! Sam and Jim's boy Joe. The circumstances
that led TO his oall up in that neighborhood,
as near ss / could gather it from authentic
sources, was Substantially as follows:
Fourteen-year-old Sam Pomsroy was In
dustriously planting potatoes in a back field
on his fathers farm that forenoon when
13-year-old Joe Crane came along.
| "Planttn' Eaters" said Joe.
Sam said he was.
"What do you git fer doin' itf' asked Joe.
Don't git nothin' fer dein' it," replied
Sam. Fer not doln' 1t git licked"
Then there was a silence for moment or
| SO. By and by Joe said: ITS too wet to
plant Eaters. They'll rot"
Don't seem to strike my pap that way"
said Sam. and be planted along. Silence for
G spell. Then Joe said: "Tha's wild cat
up here piece, SAM"
| C.
go way" exclaimed Sam, strengthening
up and leaning on his hoe. ''where bouts"
''Jist beyond the laurel patch, nigh the
edge OF the Devils Rut," replied Joe.
Sam pondered in silence for few min
utes with his chin on his hoe, and then, sigh
ing deeply, resumed his planting. Joe broke
| the silence again.
Cant you sneak your pap's Runp said
he. "rve snuck my papa
Eyes, l can sneak it easy enough" said
| Sam leaning on his hoe with one hand and
scratching his head with the other. But
pap'll lick me like for tarnation fer knookiu'
off glantin':"
ears" insinuated joe IAN the hides with
81 more"
THAT'S So" said Sam, shaking his head
dolefully. "Durn the Eaters"
There's a circus over to town next week, !"
said Joe, IAN 'tain't fur yit till the Fourth
OF July. s'pose your pap'H give you 81, o.
course, 60 take 'em i'm
mot by a jugfull, he won'tw exclaimed
Sam, dropping his hoe. ''Whsre'll meet
you, Joel"
by the rock spring." replied Joe, 81 got
pap's gun hid up there"
And Joe went back to the woods while
Sam took circuitous route for home as his
| father was blowing on the direct route In
less than quarter Of an hour he and Joe
loaded their guns at the rock spring, and
marched for the place where the wild cat
was alleged to be lurking.
IT WASN'T WILD GOOSE CHASE.
That there was a wild cat In the vicinity,
and big enc, was well known. Some said
| there were two. One had been seen several
times, at any rate. and a number OF lambs
had besn carried Off and poultry yards had
been thinned out in a way that denoted the
methods of the wild cat. So there was no
doubt that one of these destructive providers,
at least, were operating in the neighbor-
| hood. Men had hunted for it and trapped
for II, but 1t had thus far eluded hunter and
| trappsr. The day Joe Crane appeared 10
Sam Pomsroy in the potato flold, be had
been looking for a hawks nest that he be-
| heved was somewhere among the old pine
stubs around the DEVILS Rut, where he
ran across a big wild cat, which ran up a
tree. crouchcd Ia the fork, aud gIared back
at him. He had thereupon hurried home.
"snuck" bis fathers gun, and with rare
| diplomacy induced Sam to ''sneak" his
fathers gun and join In a campaign against
the wild cats pelt and esrs
| Joe, as arbiter of the hunt sent Sam
through the laurel patch when they got
| there, where he shrevdIy suspected the
catamount had his refuge, while he himself
went around the patch TO be ready for the
| willy game If Sam routed It out Sam
started the big cat and got a shot at IL.
THE GAME DEAD BUT OUT OF REACH.
He broke one of his hind legs but the
| wild cat bounded out Of the laures on three
| legs. 1t came out near Joe and he gave 1t a
charge from his papa's gun and tumbled it
heels over head. 1t fell. kicking and yell.
| ing, right on the edge Of the Devils Rut,
| and its dying kicks carried il over the edge
and IL fell headlong 10 the bottom OF the
| Fut
The Devils Rut, so called is a canon on a
small scale. IL Is seam in the rocks, not
| over 10 feet wide at its widest part, 80 feet
| deep AID a quarter of a mile long. Joe and
Sam looked down into the Devils Rut and
could see the wild cat lying there dead To
climb down the side OK the opening was an
impossibility, and IL looked az if the hunt
was to be a fruitless one after all.
"We're dished n said Sam, land I'm a
heap worse off than nothin', fer all I'll git
how'll be pap's hckinl"
But Sam was too much of a pessimlst
! Joe was optimistic and resourcefuL II he
! hadn't have bsen he would have lest the
| wild cats bounty and its skin, but both he
and Sam would have returned home with
more skin of their own than they did, to
say nothing Of clothes.
| 1t is O great place for wild grapes around
and about the Devils Rut. The vines ex-
| tend frem tree to tree, some OF them in a
| continuous stretch for fifty fest or more
1t took Joe Crane no longer than two min
! utes TO think out plan for securing the
wildcat and all that it implied.
ROPE PREPARED BY NATURE.
He traced out vine that had thrown It
self through the trees for fifteen or twenty
! yards from its pareRt cane. He climbed
! the trees in succession, cutting the vine
loose from the branch vines and tendrls
| that held it, and at last had It free, a long,
strong natural rope fully 80 feet IN length.
| The two boys tested Its strength by both
! putting their weight on IL at once, and
hanging from it. Ii held staunch and safe
| to its native tree. Joe lowered the vine to
the bottom Of the Devils Rut, and went
down upon 1t into the rsvine, hand over
| hand.
| His intentions were 10 fasten the wild cats
carcass to the vine and have Sam haultit
| up, but while Sam was waiting for the
signal to pull away he heard Joe shouting
something else.
"Hello, Sam" Joe's voice came up from
the Ruk drop down here with the gunsl
! Tha's a hole full o. more wild cats"
sam couldn't drop down with the guns,
60 be tied them 10 long grapevine and
lowered them to the bottom. Then he
dropped himself down Joe's grapevine and
! ioired Joa in the Rut