The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-31
CATS ON THE ELEVIrED.
with More Especial Reference 70 These
At soash Ferry, Past and Present.

with More Especial 8eference t. These
At soash Ferry. Past and Present.
Cats are rarely seen about the stations OF the
elevated road. they are. In fact. seldom kept
there; but thers Is no rule of the company
against keeping them. and they might even be
needed, for tho Same use a. elsewhere. to drive
away rats. At one point on the elevated road
cats have been kept for years, At the onioss Of
the Superintendent Of the road. at South Ferry.
The cat kept here, however. Is never seen by
tho passengers on the road. for the ofices arc
another Night upstairs over the station. How
the rats get there nobody knows-whethcr
they crawl up the pipes, or 90 up the stairs-but
they get there. and they are tho kind that might
be ex pected to DO found at that locality, big
wharf rats. active and enterprising. and fear
less. On one occasion q man sitting at work In
the ONCE, feeling q weight on his leg and hearing
q scratching on his trousers, looked down and
saw a rat walking up his leg.
Tho Partially OF rats for paste 10 we'll known
Ono night nome years ago, in their eaeerness to
get ut tho paste In tho building. the rats gnawcd
the backs OF five account books here. After
that the ONCE provided itself with n cat. and
with two intervals OF a few months each II has
had a cat ever since.
The first one. q black cat. stayed four years
and kept the oflces pretty free OF rats. Then
ono night IL disappeared and never camr Jack,
and nobody knew what became Of II. II Is pos
slblc that battalions OF rats gathered that night
and stormed the cats quarters and carried the
black cot of and drowned II In tho hRrbor for
revenge, but that seems scarcely likely, for there
are people about the station and the Superinten-
dents offices day and night, and rats advancing
from any point In large numbers would probably
have been neen. 1t seems moro likely that the
black cat got lost. or thought that four years
was long enough 70 stay In one place and 80
Just went way on It's own account; aud II seems
all tho more probable that IL went In some such
way As this, because some months after It's de-
pATturs the rats remained more or less shy Of
cats presence apparently inspiring them with
sufficient terror TO Keep them away; but after
that the rats became bold again and came back,
and then the ofloe again provided itself with u
cat, two OF them, In fact, but they were only
little more than kittens.
and Jerry. People are coming and going on
businC " here all the time. and not long after
the two kittens were brought In one OF them
got stepped oil and was so badly hurt that II
didn't live long afterward. The other one grew
up to DO a credit to It's race, and for about two
years II kept tho offices tolersbly free of rats.
Then one OF the men In tho ONCE took the cat
over to Jersey, where. II IL said, there is now
and then q rat. As was the case after the de-
pNrturs OF the original black cat, "a. after the
a while, and then, as before. they began to come
back, and the ONCE got q cat, tho. one which IL
has now. This cat was provided by Messenger
James w. Jones. who had raised IL from n
kitten. II Is now about four years old, and Ia
Mike is a black and white cat OF great sine.
He has now been installed here for about q
year. He has performed his part OF the con-
tract we'll and In return hs II well fed and
| cared for.