New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-30
ONE CAT.

York cat was described in a moro or less sym
pathetic manner yesterday by several writers
for the daily press. Their agreement as to the
sex Of the unfortunate animal enables us to
use the pronoua in the masculine gender and to
say that he was a large cat fine cat and a
cat that had been taught to put his faith IN hu.
man kindness. But he was destined to be de-
ceved and betrayed. When the family with
whom he had been domiciled, presumably on
terms agreeable to all concerned, departed for
the country they closed their house, leaving hin,
to the certain misery Of loneliness and the prob
able doom Of starvation He found window,
however, that was open a little way at the top,
and with a passion for liberty that did him
honor, as we'll as an agility which should have
been equal to his desperate necessities, he sprans
through the aperture only to be caught between
the ears and shoulders by exterior bars, whose
relation to his circumstances he had not com.
pretended. His foothod was secure enough to
prolong his sufferings by depriving him Of the
otherwise presumptive relief Of death from
strangulation, and there he stayed, wearing his
heart out and his fur off in vain efforts to escape
How long he stayed there nobody knows, and
those who discovered him had no means OF de-
termining how long he would have to stay there.
The policeman on the beat, having humanely
tried to pry the bars a little further apart and
failed was entreated to dispatch him, but re-
fused, asserting that If ne should do so the
Society for the Prevention Of Cruelty to AMI
mails would have his buttons cut of without
delay. 1t was late in the afternoon. and the
officers OF that society had ceased from their
labors. A hasty search was not rewarded by
the discovery OF anybody who was authorized
either to break the bars If they would not bend
or to terminate the poor creatures existence.
Night descended, and he was left alone to wall
and struggle
This melancholy history, which Is believed to
be substantially accurate, suggests several re-
1ections. One Of them concerns the imperfec-
tions Of q statute which, designed to be merci.
full, permits the agony OF n helpless animal to
be indefinitely prolonged, not for want Of some
one competent TO end 1t decently, and responsible
to the municipality for his official acts, but be.
cause the employees OF a society having jurlsd!c-
ton cannot be omnipresent. Another impress
sion conveyed by the torture Of this confding
and bameless cat Is Of the prevalence Of an
unaccountable species Of cruelty among persons
who may be models Of virtue IN other respects
In this particular case there may be some ex-
cuse which Is not obvious for the persons who
left their cat alone IL closed house. Possibly
they had provided for his entertainment by a
neighbor, and thought that they had locked him
out when really they had locked him in. But
1t is well-known fact that animals, and espe
clally cats, whose pecunary value is small, while
their ability to fend for themselves and make
precarious living IS exaggerated, are often
turned into the streets and abandoned by house.
holders leaving the city for the summer, as If
they had no capacity for physical suffering and
no hearts to be broken.
The interest and affection which can tolerate
such pltiless treatment OF dumb companion
must be spurious. 1t IS dreadful to think Of the
sum Of misery which is so produced year after
year in this city. Doubtless It is far greater
than that which the mournful chorus Of the dis
possessed and despairlng infllcts on human be-
ngs.