Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-20

ber, 1897, while puss was playing in the
street IN front of the store, it's attention
was distracted by SOME little moving Oh
ject, and il did hot notice d bullock cart
coming from an opposite direction. In a
moment poor kit was under the heavy
wheels, and, before it could eytricate it.
self one white paw was crushed and bro
ken. The accident was witnessed from
the store by two members of the firm, who
rushed wildly into the street to save their
pet.
They carried the suffering cat into the
counting room and carefully examined its
injuries 1t was found that the bones of
the left fore leg Were broken and that the
animal was in great pain. I'VE must
send for a DOCTOR said one. "Of course"
was the quick response of all the others;
''but first let us consider whose portion of
the cat has been injured .
This WIS easily settled The left fore
leg Of the cat belonged to Manookjee, so
it was the duty of Manockjee 10 send for
the physician and foot the bill
A doctor was accordingly sent for and
did all in his power TO relieve the suffer
ings of the injured animal The leg was
wrapped in bandages soaked in turpentine
liniment, and regularly each day the doc
tor made his professional call at the greaG
house to hasten the recovery of the mascot.
But it is no easy matter to weld a broken
bone when a cat is the patient. Pussy
would put Eer foot to the ground once in
awhile and undo all the work OF her doc
tor friend
In the. early part Of January, 1898, the
cat was walking about over the tables and
desks of the counting room " hen she over
turned a lighted lamp. The fame from
the lamp ignited the turpcntine with
which the bandages were soaked, and
pussy flew i'll terror through the counting
room into the warehouse. The agony of
she burning bandaSe about the leg kept
the poor beast going at top speed, evident
ly hoping TO find relief in some of the snug
corners among the bales of silk, where she
ha.i taken many quiet nap on other oc-
casions. Before help could -be summoned
the great warehouse, with its valuable
contents, was in ilames and three hours
after only the big iron safe marked the
spot where once stood the old, old house
of Mancckjec, POonj jeajee S5 Co.
The partners took their loss with all the
stoical forbearance of the confirmed fatal
ist. All things were ordained in the be-
ginning. This was merely decree OF fate.
So they bowed deferentially to fate and
calmly proceeded to rebuild upon the ruins.
But now came the important question
of settling for loss.
Who was at fault? A business meeting
of the firm was held, and it was soon de-
clded by the other three partners that the
whole damage was caused by the burning
bandage wrapped about the left fore leg of
the cat. That left fore leg was the indi-
Vidual and separate property of Manock-
jee, which made decision an easy matter
OF course Manockjee was responsible for
the destruction of the warehouse. There
was no room for doubt.
Although Manockiee did not dispute
this assertion outright, still he asked for
time to reflect before assuming the entire
responsibility.
At last he asked his partners If they
would object to n friendly suit in the
courts TO decide for Il certainty just where
the blame should be lodged 'In this
manner said he, ''Ne may settle the
matter for all time, and it will leave no
room for hard feelings
This was agreed to, with the following
somewhat strange result:
The case was presented fairly and with
out prejudice. Manocsjee had retained
one OF the brightest pleaders before the In
dian bar, and, through his shrewd efforts,
the judge handed down the following re-
markGbe decision:
THE cat, being owned severally by four
men, each being proprietor Of a dcsignat
ed section of the animal, overturned n
lamp and set fire to n bandaee on the left
fore leg. The cat in fright ran into tho
warehouse and communicated the fire to