The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-27
TREASURY FULL OF CATS
WHEN THE CLERKS GO HOME THER
PROWL AND MARAUD.


lem-Devil Dan Was Boss, but Dandy
Jim Took Him Down n Peg or Two.
WASHINGTON. Aug 26-Ever since tho day
when Treasurer Spinner introduced women into
the Treasury Department as clerks, that immense
building has been filled with cats and in various
ways these felines have made life TO the average
clerk almost burden. In fact, the Superintend-
ent OF the building will be asked TO have the prowl.
ers excluded from the building and the force Of
watchmen instructed To shoot any cat seen thoro-
abouts
While IL is true that Tasso addressed the finest
OF his sonnets 70 his cat Petrarch had his fayorito
cat enbalmed in the Egyptian style Cardinal
Wolsey gave audience with his cat beside him,
Mahomet cut of his skirt robe SO that he might
rise without disturbing his cat Chateaubriand
loved cats all his life and the French poets Baude-
laire, Gautier, Victor Hugo, and our own Edgar
Allen Poe had a iondness for cats. yet what In
said Of these animals in the Urea sury would not
sound well in polite society. Cats may have few
friends in the building but they confined to tho
old maids and lovers of tea kettles which made
their advent about the same time as the women
and cats II would not be pleasant for good Bro
ther Spinner If he should show up in the nosh
some fine morning and hear what the clerks
say and do when they go into their offices and find
that the cats have been holding high carnival
the ears OF Captain OF the Watch Cobaugh every
morning. and he is besecched to get the cats out Of
the building even il il is necessary TO buy all the
poison in Washington.
Enthusiastically the cats are nuisance" said
Capt Cobaugh and | should like to see them
eAtcrminated. Complaint alter complaint IL made
10 me- but am powerless to do any thing unless
have authority TO go into the rStcrnnatng busi-
ness How many cats are in the building" That
t.1lI haH H,S,,Itt
basement can produce a good drove of Them and
some Of them are wild as March harcs II Ia
not often that they will venture upstairs during
the day time. but Just as soon as the cmulnyees
leave the prowling rnsCaS ready To begin their
mtanness Some OF them never come out OF the
sub basement. and IL oil would stay down there
don't suppose there would be any complaint OK.
cept from the painters, who say that the cats In
tcricre with their work by walking over freshly
painted places Whenever the order is issued to
clear the building OF them you can Just calculate
that they will GO"
Several wears ago the depre,lations OF the catsn
became ntoIerablc. Mai W. T.. Anderson, who
now has charge uI the Treasury stables was then
on the watch force, and he said that he was A
great lover OF cats and that he would find homes
Tor as many Of them as possible, This he did,
he secured a home for every cat which could
he caught but there were many that could not 10.
captured The tact that the area ways are open
during the day permits cats come and go at will
into the building and Mai. Anderson is OF tho.
opinion that, no matter how often the Treasury 10
cleared OF them. there will soon be others To tako
their places
Il have always loved cats" said the Maion,
More than seventeen years ago a white female
cat came 10 my home in Marysville, o. and low
days alter she came she badly torn by a dog
gave her the best possible attention, but several
times We thought she was dead. For ten DAYS and
nights she lay almost motionless On the eleventh
day she got up and walked around and from that
day she began TO rally and improve Aiew'
weeks after she got well she gave birth TO as pretty
pair OF white kittens as you ever put eyes on.
They we're OF the masculine gender and grew
rapidly. weighing seventeen pounds each when
grown. They were Maltese and had more sense
than dozen ordinary cats AT that time l was in
the drug business in Marysville and those two
cats would get out on the gate posts at my home at
pght and when they heard me coming from tho
store would run down the street TO meet me and
jump on my shoulders, where they would sit until
reached my home. One OF them died about two
years ago and the other is still living.
When the order was issued TO clear the TrcasS
ury Department of cats there was one vicious
fellow in the building. He would not permit any
one 10 touch him. lie would follow ME around tbs
building at night and was as irolicsome rs kit
ten, but the moment put my hand on him no
would dig his claws into ma Well, he got his ioot
badly burned on hot pipe and came limping 10
me picked him up, doctored his ieet tying them
up with cloth, and put him in big box where no
would not be disturbed. The poor fellow seemed
to realize at once that this was good Tor him. and
alter glare OF inquiry he submitted in perfect
quiet 10 my treatment In lew weeks he waS
well. lie and were good friends after that L
mot glIFrlt a L.. ~
OF reasoning. and this one reasoned that what did
Tor him showed that was his friend
"llavc cats Il language? Well l can't say buN
they manage 10 communicate with each otheri
" hen one OF my cats comes in hungry IRON a IrtI
less expedition, he smells OF his comrade nose tn
see II The latter has had his dinner and IL the muto
response is fragrant one he 'yowps' Tor hia
share. From this simple means OF communica,1
ton up to the NEW OF distress the new OF inquiry
the purr OF Joy. the puT OF calm satisfaction, tlso
OF rags the splitting OF fright and tbs,
vastly various notes Of ove-making there is an
extensive gamut Much OF il is comprehensive
TO us and all of 1t Is perfectly comprehensive to.
cats Have they not orators and songsers among
hem who are reckoned superior " other oratorp
and songsters? doubt II not When two furry
rivals OF lovers squall at each other by the hour to-
Sether under the light OF the moon, do you sup
pose that they are not saying great deal and that
/ is not all understood? The suggestion tbat
30 much noise is made without meaning Ia p.o1
posterouS
III cleanliness is next TO godness, the cat has a
ligh moral standing. Treasury clerks 10 the conS
Iary notwithstanding. The fight againrt tho
at Is not a Just one Too many OF the clerks and
scrub women are careless about leaving their
loors open, Tor everybody should know that cats
will prowl around anywhere. The cats are not
,nurey TO blame Ii the cats were not in the