Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-06-01
i THE VERGE OF DEATH.
TOM CAT AGAINST A
RATTLESNAKE.
Rattles and a Button-A
+ Life Saved by a Tom Cat.

Llfe Saved by q TOm Cat.
Eyes, sir; it saved my life, ant
Astor's wealth could not purchase
litl IRould part with everything
possess first and starve afterward
The speaker was a young car
psnter of this city, the unpurchas
sable sit" an ordinary looking
tom cat, with three dark latera.
stripes extending from shoulde,
tosfank on both of its sides, and
the person addressed, the writer
who confesses to having made a
futile but wicked attempt to con-
vert the priceless tabby into a
Hamburg steak with his bootjack
o95sthe night previous, says the
S4n Francisco Examiner.
You see," continued the
spsalker, picking the cat up in his
arms and stroking it's fur with his
hand, while the mouser began to
pur and rubbed it's whiskers
against it's owners arms, "less
than six months ago it saved me
from horrible death. You want
to Know how it happened? Twas
this way: I was building houses
foisthe Indian Department on the
Crow Reservation in Montans.
was working convenient to
the;Big Horn River, and had to
sleepin an old SHACK built on
tnesoutsklrts OF q little eopse, in
which there was a dense under
growth of willow, rosebush and
wild currants, which the Indians
SAID contained swarms of rattle
snakes. Until then I had not seen
angreptiles, but 1 had heard the
noise Of their rattle many a time.
l had 9 half breed Indian helping
me- who owned the cat. One after
noan last July he went to the river
tGget:a drink.
usFs.ss-ssr5 @ rvrrruo vT1,J
minutes after came running to me
squeezing the thumb of his right
hand, while his copper colored
features had assumed cadaverous
hue, He had been bitten by a
rattlesnake. I tied a handkerchief
around his arm, while an old
Indian sucked the wound. Despite
the primitive 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.
"Aftsr the funeral the Indians
set fire to the copse, and, forming
a circle around it, they killed a
number of snakes that were at
tempting to escape from the fire.
That nightI was thinking over
the fate of my late companion be-
fore going to sleep, while the cat
purred pleasantly upon my shoulder.
I had about another weeks work
to do there and I fervently wished
myself through with the job. I
went to sleep consoling myself with
the thought that all of the snakes
in the neighborhood had been ak
terminated.
"Being very tired I slept until
late the next day and when l
opened my eyes the sight that met
my gaze almost paralyzed me with
terror. Coiled on my bosom its
head erect and ready to strike,
and its large eyes scentillating
whith rage, was a large rattlesnake
I was too Mortified to move, and
to add to my dread I could hear
the rattle of another reptile under
my bed. I do not know the exact
time 1 had been watching that
snake after I awoke. 1t might have
been Is seconds BUTT seemed to
me a lifetime.
"The first thing I kenw 1 saw
the cats paw descend upon the
fnake's head like a stroke of light
ming, and the next moment the
squirming, shiny thing was flung
upon the floor. With a bound ]
jumped up in the bed and grasping
aheavy stick that stood convenient
I smashed the rbptile's head into
a pulp. The other snake then
showef fight, but it was dispatched
as quickly as it's mate.After making
sure that there was no snake in
the hut I picked up the cat and
/ .