The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-03
HARLEM'S VANISHED GOAT.
THE FRTsKY 0UADRUPED HAS ABOUT
PASSED AWAY.
Driven Cat Of His Former Haunts by the
March Of Improvements Pathetic Incidents
Of His Goins In Harlem Annals The Inter.
esting survivor owned BY Mrs. Murphv.

song, but now the elegy's the thing, Perhaps
the dwellers upon goat-haunted heights NAV
not have heard Of one Moschns. poet. and nav
not know that Bion Is dead, hut the sentiment
OF the Lament for Bion" woild appeal Ia their
hearts. There was a pastoral quality about
the Harlem goat that recalls the Sicllian song:
Raise. raise the dlrge, oh Muse Of r Pastoral.
We wlddys tina, mourn DER the back yard ienoN
Tell the mui laden stream Of Harlem
The goat 10 dead: and that, with him
Rare sport Is ned and zone the festive fray.
Raise, raise the dirge. Muses. Of Harlem far.
Weep by the waters, ye small Irish fly,
And utter forth a melancholy bleat
Tender as his whose vote. was Ike your own
And say 10 the Hib.rnian maids, and say
To all The nymphs haunting the classic hills
The goat Of Harlem has departed from.
Incidentally II might be noted that the Hiber
nian maids and nymphs may do their haunt
ing in greater security than in the olden time
before the goats died.
New York is gradually being robbed Of It's trs.
ditions. Five Points Is respectable and Mul.
berry Bend has a park and the Tenderloin has
scattered. and Fifth avenue has fallen into tho
hands Of shopkeepers. and apartment houses
have oyerrun Shantytown, The goat Of blessed
memory fed before the invading tide. Like
the Indian and the buffalo, he retrea,ed to more
inaccessible Businesses and dwindled patheti.
cally In numbers. He couldn' take his way
westward on account Of the river. but he backed
northward, sturdily facing the foe and occasion.
ally descending upon his enemies with des,rlc.
ton In his path.
Cable cars overran him, though he met them
with dauntless energy, Policemen chased
him on his " native heath. His territory
was divided into lots and given over to build
ings so big that his most deadly attack couldn't
even shake them. His rocky Crac, were
blasted and the grass and weeds were rooted
out, and the tin cans were taken away In a cart
every morning, and the weekly washlngs were
hung on pulley lines from windows far above
his head. No rations were left for him. For
a time he sustained life with broken bricks and
mortar left by the builders. but the limited faro
didn't agree with him. His appetite needed
broader range.
1t was in the mood OF lawless craving and re-
bellion brought about by these conditions, that
two summers ago Mrs. Patrick HOran's goat
knocked down u neighbor's daughter, aged 3,
and deliberately ate her pin0fore Of her back.
II the infants mother had understood the un-
DERIVING pathos Of the act, If she had recog-
nized the combination Of assault and battery
and highway robbery as the last convul,lye
struggle for the right TO live, she wouldn't have
taken the episode as she did. Inluckily, her
course In ethnology, sociology and goatology
had been limited, and Harlem remembers 10
this day the rate at which history was made
that afternoon. The goat didn't survive the
storm. lie fell a victim 10 the march OF prog
ress and the iraie mothers axe and Is now
presumably grazing in Elysian fields.
The annals of Harlem are full OF such pathetlcc
incidents. There was a time when the goa.
anecdotes were more or lesc humorous, ,put ~
late years they have been distinctly pathetic
the last records of a perishing race, one may
from the Harlem River TO the Park without
seeing even a wisp Of a goats beard, sun
there are lonely survivors. MIS-, MURPHY has
his head, but the Murphys are fond Of him.
They keep him tied up most Of the time, as
lively resigned now, Az frst being used 70
what the poet; insist upon calling "rangy IN;
s1ty." he reSelif q: D It vent lnir to t ,hs d MTIpS WAS
the price Of liberty, and they wanted him 70
live. SO they tied him TO the, doorstep. U;
luckily they used a rope for me purpose, ana
end nearest him. The Youngest Murphy iap,
peared upon the scene. before Billy reached
the other end of his meal and his cries brought
OF the rope and pulled Justify. Billy was slightly
nconvenlenced but the rope broke amid
ships. Since then they fasten hin with 2 chain.
Occasionally, In an absent-minded m, ne eats
a few links, but energetic measures always in
duce him 10 disgorge.
captivity. and reflection have embittered
was a time when he butted aayfarers In pure
frolio. Now, whenever he has a chance, he
goes at them IN grim earnest He adores
soapbox chariot, and he ~tolerates other chill
dren unless they make themselves obnoxious.
but Rrown-ups he regards as his natural prey.
for the high buildings and the streets cars and
the asphalt streets, and his soul loathes them.
Last winter he relieved his feelings and won
an apartment house just behind the Murphys,s
lot, and the %janitor OF that house was Billys
special detestation.
the en goat a4' Billy iii ' was tired Aa and could DO moth
ing In return; but he was like the mule OF the
q qs: ~ gsn aGsP Nth Sf Pee e deadI s R Saifsd that Th soq isS:
ante OF the apartment house shared Bnlys
feelings.
10. on' nn %Ssnias lr- f,J Ts'1 ,Ss ss1 the .n sp' s.s s's 4
% es%s across Q. I the lot from The sroSery; T6s
tableaq edited the entire neighborhood and
efforts Of the whole Murphy family. his beard
was quivering with triumph, The apartment
house crowd came over slngly and In groups
~ w llth hlu 'tthA ~ uAlVtFT hi'h 49,
four art students who have the TOP. floor hack
formally presented to Billy a collar, appro.
priately Inscribed. Moreover they pleaded
for him when a policeman. secured by the VIC
tim, threatened 10 end the goats glorious and
useful career. The MuTphys wept. and
Billy looked rs much like a lamb as poss Ihle.
and the ianltOr was a German. and the police
mans was q Donohue, so the trouble blew over.
He's that quiet We wudn't think he cud
hurt anything" said Mrs, Murphy. In telling
OF the fray. but he had been savin' up that
buttin' fer 40 long that II was a regular Donny-
brook Fair whin II got shtarted. An him 30
gintle wild the childer, There do be thin no
luks down on goats, but fer me-. give me a
goat. ser I and take yer pug dogs, There
used 20 be tin goats on this very block, an
all a-runnin' around sociable. I'm not aflher
denyin' there WIZ. thronble sometimes. like
bed. on the back shtoop and the goats o." y,
wild a friend. Not a feather did the bastes
lave. and she'd niver have known where Y
whit II she hadn't seen pin feathers shtlckln
in the goats boards.
"Whin We wunst know a goats tastes, Though.
ye kin purity well LUX out fer him, and they
WIZ friendly craihers 10 have around. mss
thin as much rs me old neighbors, but Blly
and I, we're all that's lift. and I'm thinkin' ahg
fat will be sittin' on W. we don't move on;
"Bily's that lonesome he don't ate much
since tho other goats all died or was sin' AWAY.
He niver Was much of an a'cr AZ any tonne;
Olive heard n lot Of the talk about goats Ai!n
tin cans an bruk glass an the loiko, but Bily
niver w,d have any thruck wild SIGH. We nl-
ways fed him somethin' in the winter, and me
summer he atas grass an weeds, and shawn :;
IN. L. l-lt,. lt. a,I. tlny AEA 1,tnf FpIIn