Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1893-05-03
SAVED BY A CAT.
Why a San Francisco Feline La
Loved by It's Master.
The Little Animal Comes to the Rescue
at a Critical Moment-A Thrilling Ad-
venture with a Couple of
Mathematics.

Eyes, sir; it saved my life, and
Astor's wealth could not purchase it.
would part with everything possess
first and starve afterwards"
The speaker was q young carpenter
of this city, says the San Francisco
Examiner, and the unpurchasable ''it''
an ordinary looking tomcat, with three
dark lateral stripes extending from
shoulder to flank on each of it's sides,
and the person addressed, the writer,
who confesses to having made futile
but wicked attempt to convert the
priceless tabby into Hamburg steak
with his bootjack on the night previ-
Gus.
''You see, SIR" continued the
speaker, picking the cat up in his
arms and strobing it's fur with his
hand, while the mouser began a
gentle purr and rubbed its whislzers
against its owners arm, "less than six
months ago it saved me from a
horrible death. You want to know
how it happened? Twas this way:
was building houses for the Indian
department on the Crow reservation in
Montana. was working convenient
20 the Big Horn river and had to sleep
in an old shack built on the outskirts
of little copsc, in which there was a
dense underground of willow, rose
bush and wild currants, which the
Indians said contained swarms of
rattlcsnakeS. Until then / had not
seen any of the reptiles, but had
heard the noise Of their rattle many a
time. 1 had half-brced Indian help
ing me, who owned the cat. One
afternoon last July he went to the
river to get a drink. Ten minutes
afterwards l heard him give 4 terrific
yell, and few minutes after he came
running toward me squeezing the
thumb of his right hand. while his COP
per-colored features had assumed ca
davcrous hue. lie had been bitten by
rattlcsrallc. / tied a handkerchief
around his arm, while an old Indian
sucked the wound. Despite the prim-
tive remedies Of the medicine man
and the medical aid Of the doctor from
the agency, who was sent for, the man
died the next day, suffering intense
agony. After the funeral the Indians
set fire to the copSc, and, forming q
circle around it, they killed number
OF snakes that were attempting to es-
cape from the fire. That night / was
thinking over the fate of my late COM
paniou before going to sleep, while the
cat pulrcd pleasantly upon my shout
der. had about another weeks work
to do there and ] fcrvently wished my
self through with the job. I went TO
sleep corsoling myself with the
thought that all of the snakes in that
ncighborhood had been exter1ninatcd.
eli la
day and when I opened my eyes The
sight that met nv gaze almost par
nlyzcd me with terror. Coilcd on my
bosom, its head erect and ready to
strike, and its large eyes scintillating
with rage, was q large rattlesnake. /
was too mortified to move, and t. add
to my dread / could hear the rattles of
another reptile under nv bed. I do
not know the exact time had been
watching that snake after awoke. 1t
might have been fifteen seconds, but
it seemed to me Il lifetime The first
thing | knew | saw the cats paw &c
sccnd upon the snakes head like a
stroke OF Lightning, and the next mo-
mcnt the SqU;rming, Shiny thing was
flung upon The floor. With q bound I
jumped up in the bed, and, grasping 4
heavy stick that stood convenient, |
SMASHED the reptiles head into pulp.
The ot.lcr snake then showed fight,
but 1t was dispatched as quickly as it's
maze. liter making SIRE that there
was no CHER snake ii the hut picked
up the cSt, and to my Joy found it I'M
harmed. | measured the reptile from
which tho cat so timely rescued me,
and found it to Ee three feet six inches
long, having one hundred and sixty
seven scuta on the body and it's tail
had thirteen rattles. The other snake
was rot so large. The fire in the
copsc had driven the reptiles into the
shack, and were it not for the cat
would have met the fate of the half
breed Indian. No, sir, money cannot
bIV th iS cat