The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1899-08-04


Iasints. o
20 l-stmi1 ard mice have an Amerl-
SOD r.Aihtt value. a lnlu in Sew Jer-
s.g is prepared 10 pas ave cents Tor
.ic.y healthy At delivered and Dee
quotes mice 90 three cents each. jc-
.Jue sAouAaid. an old sea captain. 90
.ll.uB the iat aud mouse market. and
o. aua.ous TO buy 1000 rodents. Cap
,aln Sheppard already has a supply ~
Oats aud mice. but owing to the atti-
,uDe afsum,d by the New Jersey So
cioty fur tie Prevention OF Cruelty 10
Animals he has been forced TO adyer-
tiso for rats and mice 20 that his stock
may not become depleted u so hap
pens that Captain sheppard is the pro-
prictor Of cat farm near Caldwell,
\. j. and rats and mice are necessary
to his business. -Four years ago the
captain. who looks every inch the
typical "seadog." gave up the sea and
determined to devote the rest OF his
life to raising cats. While ON his
cruises Captain Sheppard secured a
valuable collection OF high bred cats.
For four years he has been raising
cats, aud Is said to have made a small
fortune from his farm. Angoras. NAL
tesc. Siamose. Indian. Russian. Japan
eGo and. In fact. every breed OF cats
known TO the fancier can be found on
the Sheppard farm Each breed Ia
kept In n separate corral. and pedigreos
are preserved carefully OF each new
arrival. The cats are first domestl-
Gated and made familiar with people,
especially children. by constant pet
ting. and are next trained as ratters
and mousers. II Is owing TO this lat
ter fact. and to Captain shephard's
original methods OF training his cats
that the Society for the Prevention OF
Cruelty to Animals has threatened his
Industry with extinction. Captain
Sheppard has probably 200 cats always
on the farm. and II required good
many rats TO go round. In order that
one rat might serve to train several
cats, the plan was adopted OF placing
a rat In a glass box or wire cage set
In the corral Naturally the unfor-
tunate rat created a great deal OF ox-
element In the corral. and when II be-
came exhausted from fright the rat
was taken TO cage to recover. Sooner
or later the rat was turned loose
among the cats. that they might taste
his blood. Sometimes rats were tied
with a string and hung Just beyond the
reach OF the cats. The society Sc
rioualy considered Captain shopMard'a
case at several OF its meetings, and
| finally, a few days ago. notified him
that he must cease torturing rats. but
consented to permit him to give the
rodents outright to the cats. IA re-
suit Captain Sheppard ls NJ his Wits
end TO keep up his supply Of rats. as
he uses about 100 each week. Conso-
quently he has been compelled to enter
the rat market and pay S. a hundred
for rats and 80 hundred for mice.
The stable boys In the Vicinity OF Cald-
well are Investing In rat traps and ox-
pect TO reap a harvest ms q result OF
Captain shophard's OFFER Some Idea
may be gained OF the pruniablenoss of
cat farming from the fact that over
1000 kittens a year are raised and sold
from the Sheppard farm. These. an
well bred and thoroughly trained,
bring from 81 TO 50 each. In many In
stances especially wen bred cats. with
pedigroos elaboately inscribed on
parchment. bring $50.