The times., 1898-09-04
HIS CAT TRAP.
How the Professor Got Rid of OBJ
uCxious Eelfues.
(From the New YORK Sun


(From the New York SUM-
Mild and amiable as man could be-"
said Col. Calliper, my old friend Prof
Cephas Bunkleton, who formerly lived in
Storkyille Centre, VT, was greatly dis
turbed by the bowling of cats; and when
cats began to gather nights on his back
fence he did not hesitate to take means
to get rid of them. This was before cleo
tricity had come into its present wide
spread common use. The professor
couldn't string wire along the fence top,
and simply by pressing button set in
the wall at the head of his bed annihi-
late any cats that might stray that way.
But he was of an inventive turn, and
he had no difficulty in producing con-
trivance that answered the purpose per-
fectly.
''He lived on the banks of a small But
rapid stream that skirts Storkville Cen
ire, and which had, just below whore he
lived, a fall of 80 feet. The professor
house stood on a high bank. His back
fence was probably 80 feet above the sur
face of the river and so feet back from the
edge of it; so that from the fence TO the
water the river bank sloped down at an
angle of about 40 degrees. The prob
lem, as it presented itself TO the profess
sor was how to precipitate the cats from
the river Difficult Of accomplishment
as this might have seemed to some per-
sons, it never gave Prof. Bunkleton the
slightest trouble whatever.
'"The fence ran parallel with the river.
AT one end of the fence. asd so formed
and placed that the beginning of ii SEEM
ed a continuation of the fence itself, the
professor set his trap. At little dis
tance from the end of the fence the trap
became a deep steel trough, running
on at first in line with the fence, and
then its sides here rising up and over
until they formed a pipe, curving out
ward toward the river. Upon the end
that Joined the fence which had no up
turned sides. and which seemed TO be a
part of H. the professor placed his bait.
which was always something very tempt
ing. BY means of a mechanical arrange
ment the instant the cat stepped on the
plain piece of the trap and just as it was
about to seize it the bait was drawn
suddenly down into the beginning Of the
trough. The cat jumped after it, and
that was the end OF the cat, for the
trough and pipe section was on a hinge
at the end of the plain section, and the
weight Of the cat was enough TO drop
il to a considerable angle. The inside
of the trough and pipe was polished
smooth and carefully creased There was
no place where the cat could possibly
get a hold. Carried by the impetus of
its jump and the lowering of the pipe.
II began to slide with gathering velocity
down the trough and around the curve.
bowling all the time with a howl that
sounded like the whistle of a rapidly
moving locomotive. Muffied for a moment
as the cat entered the pipe. the bowling
sounded louder than ever when it emerg-
ed at the end toward the river.
The cat was then going very fast but
great as its velocity was il had not gath
! cred sufficient momentum to carry it
clear of the bank and into the river, and
I here IS where che professors genius
again came into play. OF course he might
have put pipe line right down the bank
to the water but he didn't want 10 do
that and 1t would have cost TOO much
any way. and so he provided own the
bank a simple relay apparatus He gave
the outer end of the pipe the slightest tilt
upward. so as TO give the cat little
sheer outward and SO a greater fall. and
a. the place where Fl would come down
which was at a point about two-tslirds of
/ the way down the bank he placed
broad sheet of canvas, stretched between
two supports planted in the ground the
( canvas being inclined az the same general
| angle as the bank of the river but at not
/ quite so much of an angle; It was a little
more nearly level.
This canvas served as a springboard 20
! bounce the cat over into the river Drawn
| tight at the beginning. the canvas was at
! night, when IL was wet with the dew. as
! tight as a drumhead. Dropping down out
/ of the air. with its howl trailing behind
| it. the cat would come down 10 this great
drumhead. ku-ur-r.
Bunk
And bound up again and over. like a
/ mortar shell in its flight. and fan into the
swift current OF the river, too dazed now
TO give utterance TO any sound. and a
minute later il had gone over the falls.
Strangers that came to Storkville Cen
ter to settle always used TO wonder how
there came to be so few cats around; /;
they said they'd never seen a place so
free from cats. When. after a time. as
always happened, some older inhabttant
took them 10 see the professors cat trap
their wonderment was lost In admira-
ton"