Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-05-10
SAVED BY A CAT.
Why a San Francisco Feline Is
Loved by It's Master.
The Little Animal Comes to the Rescue
at Critical Moment-A Thrilling Ad.
venture with Couple OF
RattlesnakeS.

'Yes, 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 young carpenter
of this city, says the San Francisco
Examiner, and the unpurchasable sit"
an ordinary looking tomcat, with three
dark lateral stripes extending from
shoulder to flank on each of its 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-
ouS
speaker, picking the cat up in his
arms and stroking it's fur with his
hand, while the mouser began a
gentle purr and rubbed its whiskers
against its owners arm, LESS than six
months ago it saved me from
horrible death. You want to know
how it happened? Twas this way: 1
was building houses for the Indian
department on the Crow reservation in
| Montana. was working convenient
to the Big Horn river andshad to sleep
| In an old shack built on the outskirts
| of little copse, in which there was a
dense underground of willow, rose
bush and wild currants, which the
Indians said contained swarms of
| rattlesnakes. Until then / had not
seen any of the reptiles, but had
heard the noise of their rattle many a
| time. had half-breed Indian help
| ing me, who owned the cat One
afternoon last July he went to the
| river to get a drink. Ten minutes
afterwards heard him give 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
daverous hue. He had been bitten by
a rattlesnake. 1 tied 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 copse, and, forming a
| circle around it, they killed a number
| of snakes that were attempting to es-
cape from the fire. That night 1 was
thinking over the fate of my late COM
panion before going to sleep, while the
cat purred pleasantly upon my shoul-
| der. / had about another weeks work
to do there and fervently wished my
| self through with the job. l went to
sleep consoling myself with the
thought that all of the snakes in that
| neighborhood had been exterminated.
Being very tired, slept until late next
day and when / opened my eyes the
sight that met my gaze almost par
alyzed me with terror. Coiled on my
bosom, its head erect and ready to
| strike, and its large eyes scintillating
with rage, was large rattlesnake. I
was too Mortified to move, and to add
to my dread could hear the rattles of
| another reptile under my bed. / do
not know the exact time had been
watching that snake after awoke It
might have been fifteen seconds, but
it seemed to me a lifetime. The first
thing knew saw the cats paw de-
scend upon the snakes head like a
stroke of lightning, and the next mo-
ment the squirming, Shiny thing was
flung upon the floor. With a bound /
jumped up in the bed, and, grasping
heavy stick that stood convenient, I
smashed the reptiles head into pulp.
The other snake then showed fight,
but it was dispatched as quickly as it's
mate. After making sure that there
was no other snake in the hut picked
up the cat, and 70 my Joy found it un-
harmed. / measured the reptile from
which the cat so timely rescued me,
and found it to be three feet six inches
long, having one hundred and sixty
seven scuta on the body and its tail
had thirteen rattles. The other snake
was not SO large. The fire in the
copse had driven the reptiles into the
shack, and were it not for the cat
would have met the fate of the half
breed Indias. No, sir, money cannot
buy this cat"
4 s-sL IT. r