The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-26

per. he holds aloof from the others for
hours at a time after an apparently
friendly tiff with playmate. and he can
not be induced to eat anything, no matter
how tempting, while he Is 'in the sulks. "
Young as he Is, Dunraven has already
won distinction as a mouser, and boards
at the expense of a wealthy woman, who
sent him to the asylum to have his tenn
permanent improved.
Agent Philip J. Smith is I'm charge OF
the refuge. and all the boarders look
upon him almost as a father. He minis
tiers to all their wants, and IS fairly wor-
shipped because he serves three meals
a day. at regular hours. The diet is plain
but undoubtedly nutritious: Breakfast
al a. m, bread and milk; dinner at noon,
raw beef, and supper at 30 D. m, bread
and milk. Although seventeen felines
now play in the back yard and slide upon
the cellar door, covers are laid for hut
twelve Little GOldic, Limpie, DunraVCn
and a few others of the privileged class
eat from individuals" and permit no in
truders TO feed from the same dish. The
others, forming ia cliques OF two or three,
eat from the remaining pans, and at meal
hours they form polite and orderly as
semblage
While the happy-go-lucky boarders
amuse themselves with "pussy-in-the-cor-
ner," and kindred games between meals,
they are unaware that an innocent-look-
ing chacOal furnace i'm the same yard daily
puts TO death between thirty and nifty
small animals of various kinds. Each
day the association receives through the
mails a large number of requests TO call
at various addresses for animals-princi-
pally cats and dOgs-which the owners
desire to have put TO death. Agent Smith
collects the crop each day in a WagcSl,
and on his return to the house only such
animals as seem to be valuable and in
good health are spared These are tenn
pOrsrily boarded while an effort is made
to find comfortable homes for them, and
the others are humanely put to death by
asphyxiation
removal of cats includes many amusing
epistles. Some are requests; others are
imperative demands. A sample of the
former is appended verbatim:
please call at above address for very
butiful cats Mother and son or else / shall
be obligated to destroy them of which I do
not wish to do-please call so quick so
convenient and oblige a sick Lady
Sometimes the agent who calls in re-
Spouse to a request is informed thar
strange cats have been running around
the back yard at night, and is invited
to go out and catch them. On a recent
trip to a South street tenement from one
of the rooms of which a Celtic ledger had
been eVicted, the agent found five large
Newfoundland dogs which had been left
behind by the tenant. How the woman
had existed in one small room with 50
much company is a, mystery.
Many valuable animals fall into the
hands of the association. Not long ago
three Persian cats with beautiful long,
white hair, were sent there to be destroy
ed. but their owner was prevailed upon
to let the association find homes for them.
Last summer two AngOra cats, weighing
respectively tWenty-eight and thirty
pounds were likewise spared while dogs,
monkeys, rabbits goats, cats and par
rots are among the numbers put to death
The bodies of the victims are removed
daily by fertilizer company and in win
ter the skins of cats and dogs are pre-
served and used in the manufacture OF
various articles. The oil derived from dog
fat is said to be worth 81 per quart.
Agent Smith said the other day that
there is but one variety of cat which has
never fallen into the hands of the associa-
ton, and that is the tailess Manx cat
from the Isle of Man. There are but few
of these cats in this country. and there is
a curious tradition explaining their pres
ence. 1t is said that years ago, a vessel
which had touched at the Isle of Man and
was bound for this port was wrecked
just inside the breakwater, and that some
of the Manx cats which the sailors were
bringing home managed to get ashore. In
standardization of this. 1t is said that in
the vicinity of Lewes, Del. is the only
place in the country where the peculiar
breed IS found
Since the advent of the trolley car the
number Of manned animals handled by
the association has greatly increased
The agent carries with him in the wagon
a tightlywoven cloth bag and bottle
of chlorOform. When he picks up a suffer-
ing animal which should be relieved OF
its pain at once, the cripple is placed in
the bag with a handful of rags saturated
with the chlorofOrm. and all is over in
less than a minute. Last year the Nor
ris refuge association handled over 1900
cases.