The Anaconda standard., 1899-01-08
ZOOS ON THE WARSH|PS
The Indiana Next to the Biggest
Pigpen in the World.
Distinction of the Massachusetts as a
Chicken Coop and the Brooklyn
as a Daer Park-Dogs Are
Not Good Sailors.

Chicken Coop and tho Brooklyn
as Daer Park-Dogs Are
| Not Good Sailors.
Three grim, gray ships lay at the
| Brooklyn navy yard last week. They
We're the Indiana, the Massachusetts
and the Brooklyn. The first is next
to the largest pigpen in the world, the
second is the largest chicken coop and
| the third is the most eccentric deer
park. Taken together they contain
good sized lnenagerie.
! In point of numbers the Indiana's ZOO
stands al the head. It consists of one
/ pig, one goat, four black cats, one til
| ger cat, two little kittens and one dog
on an average. The dog element varies
a good deal. Stray dogs come on board
| for occasional visits, but they are tickle
! in their fancies and not to be depend
| ed upon. The other members of the
zoo have nothing transient about them.
| The pig is really the star boarder and
| has an interesting history. Born in
| Cuba in the spring of 1898, he was CAP
! tured at Guantanamo by some sailors
| from the Indiana and in company with
another piggykin was taken on board
/ that ship.
Perhaps the warlike surroundings
| stirred up strife between the two lit
| tie pigs. At any rate they had not been
long at sea when they got into a scrim-
! mage and one of them pushed the
other overheard. The surviving pglet
is black from the tip of his fmpudent
nose to the end of his curly tail. Of
course, being as black as the ace of
| spades, he was promptly chrstened
Blanco, after the captain general, who
at that time was fond of referring to
Americans as Yankee pigs. 1t is evil
| dent that poetic Justice is not dead.
| Blanco was so young a piggykin that
| his captors had to bring him up on the
| bottle, and they are as proud of him
as a nurse of a baby. According to
them Blanco is the brightest pet in the
navy
| Why" said one of the sailors, that
pig knows as much as half the men
on the ship do. You needn't think
pigs are stupid. This ones about the
| cutest thing you ever saw on four
feet And lively? Well, when the goat
| and the pig make up their minds to
| so ashore l tell you it takes more SEN
tries than we canSmuster on this ship
| to keep 'em on board. They don't
wait to get shore leave. When they
| get ready to go they work the scheme
together. First the pig makes dive
| for the gangway; then the goat charg-
es, and after they've got the men all
| out of breath they scoot down the
| plank and roll over on the grass just
as if they were laughing at the way
| they managed it.
| Mamie is the goat. Some of the
men stole her down at Hampton Roads
last spring. but the old woman that
owned her came down to the ship after
her, so the men paid $40 and kept the
goat She went all through the war
with us, and she's as good shipmate
as you'll find. She's got one fault,
| though. We don't dare to leave our
| shoes lying on the floor at night, be-
cause she goes around and eats the
tongues out of them. She's very par
ticular about her food; likes tobacco
and shoe leather, but won't touch
that nice grass out there. She won't
eat spuds, either unless you peel EN-
| for her She's very particular. But
! she's mighty clever. Knows the sig
| nails as well as any man on board
does. When it sounds general quarters
! she climbs down to the armor deck
| as fast as she can go, and when it
sounds for general muster you'll see
her going aft along with the men.
! She takes her stand beside the captain
| until the rolls called and then she Soes
| forward again as if she had run the
| whole thing.
I'VE have four black cats-Don Car
los, Pedro and couple of others-also
one tiger cat with two kittens, but
we don't know where the kittens are,
| for the mother has hid them.'
! While the sailor was describing the
| menagerie an officer came up and said
| that Blanco would be about right FOR
| roasting at Christmas time. Some one
suggested that the men wouldn't care
/ to eat pig, even pet pig.
"Oh, they'll eat him all right"
! laughed the officer.
The sailor said nothing, but there
| was a queer look in his face. If cX-
preston counts for anything, theN In
| diana men will not eat a shipmate,
even though he be a Spanish pig by
| the name of Blanco.
| The men on the Brooklyn have no
pig, but they don't get lonely for lack
of pets. Their zoo includes one goat,
| one deer. one Spanish cat, one Yam
kee cat and family. and one dog. 1t
was on Thanksgiving day that the re-
porter was introduced to these inter-
esting animals, and the goat in par
ticular was a sight to behold. He wore
a carefully fitted blanket of dark blue
| bound with red and bearing on each
| side the following announcement in.
| large letters of red cloth; III. S. S.
! Brooklyn. Billy Boy At the four
corners of this striking garment We're
ribbon bows-pale blue at one corner
bright green at another, pink and yell
low at the other two. Thus logged
out Billy Boy could not fail to charm.
But even without his blanket he was
a brilliant feature in the scene. The
crew had been painting various Ioor-
tions of the ship and Billy Boy had
rubbed up against all the fresh paint
| =, And IL nod I,
red. white and blue in way that was
a credit to a member of the United
States navy.
Billy Boy is a regularly enlisted