New-York tribune., 1902-08-04
CATAND CRABS MAKE PANIC
MAN COVERS FELINE WITH TORMENT
ORS ON FERRYBOAT.
WOMEN SHREK AND FAINT AS ANIMAL
HOwLS AND TEARS THROUGH CABIN
JOKER" ARRESTED.

George Ceiss of No 20 woodbine-st., Brook
lyn. has sense for the most delicate humor
He attached several ablebodied crabs to cat
the ferryboat Texas yesterday The resuit
was joke that made George hold his sides
from bursting with laughter. and landed him In
a cell Oh, it was funny! Women tainted and
shrieked in terror while the crab ridden
squawking cat jumped all over them and while
crabs crawIed over the floor. clawing right and
left Wasn't it an excruCiatingly mirthful
scene?
Louis Kraft of No. 20S East Twenty -frst-st..
and his wife owned the 1t large
striped cat with a fine head. Kraft called it a
prize cat. He had refused 500 for it he said, and
was taking it a present TO his sister in The
Bronx.
Ceiss was with two three friends who had
been Grabbing with him. They had a net, some
poles and a big basket in which the days eaten
was being carried home. Though 1t was
crowded boat and the womens cabin filed
with women and children. with some men out for
the holiday Ceiss and his friends. with the
brsket sat down in the womens cabin near
Kraft and his wife.
Pretty soon the men spied the cat and Ceiss
conceived the Joke He told Kraft how he ad-
nred the cat. and the owner readily handed
the animal 10 Cess when the latter asked for
IT, Ceiss scratched the cats head with one
hand and opened the crab basket with the other
In jify he had crab out and the instant
he held II close to of the cat the CRAB
grabbed that member In a bulldog grip. The
cat howIed and every body became curious. In
another instant Cess had picked another
crab and attached ii to the cats other ear 1t
took him only a few seconds 10 haul out crab
after crab and let each one nip the cat. first on
each leg. then three on the tail and then two or
three more the sides
Now go IT." yelled Cess he threw the cat
down on the floor and prepared to enjoy his
joke With bound the cat tried to free Itself
from the nips of the crabs by leaping across the
cabin AT a window il thought open 1t struck
the window and fell a voman's head She
shreked and tainted from excitement The cat
howled in madness of pain. and its walls were
like a ba by's. II kept leaping at the sides
of the cabin. making long jumps across the
cabins length against the sides and on the
seats. and in the first few minutes was on some
woman's lap or head quite often as on the
floor or seats. Cess laughing heartily.
The &c bin was in a panic There were shreks
of women and children and yells OF men. An
other woman tainted and fell on the floor. Some
women tried TO rush out with children hold
ing them by the hand skirt. and some stood
on the seats. Some ran up and down the cabin,
humping into another. and some sat sun
and uttered shrek after shrek. The basket was
open and crabs came ont TO investigate, ana
the Shiny Things CfdNled mere anu 'HeiSr d 4V"
being stepped on.
All the while the cat was making wild leaps of
distance and height only possible by cat
made wild by dozen crabs. The way the era bs
stuck 10 the cats ears. legs and tail was aston
ishing None were shaken off even in the wild
turmoil and the innumerahe leaps the cat made.
1t made the circuit of the cabin score of times
Now ii was on the head of some woman. whose
hat il cIawed to pieces and again it flying
through the air into the pier glass at the end
of the ca bin. falling some child or woman
who happened to be in the way.
Doctors were trying 20 get at the talntlng
cat and the people were yelling and wildly
running this way and that, and no one knew
how it was going to end. The boat was almost
into the Manhattan slip by this time. Ceiss was
doubled up in mirth- 80 49,,
Then the cat escaped from the cabin. with the
era bs still clinging to it, 1t was chased by men,
who sought relieve il. but the cat did not
know that. and kept out OF their way. tli a man
.cornered it and seized it by the neck crab
did the same thing for the man, getting finger.
and the man dropped the cat
Another man cornered the cat again and put
his foot on it Then he tried to loosen the crabs.
but the cat howIed like mad and the crabs held
on A doctor who with another physician
aboard had been reviving the falntlng women,
got some of the crabs loose. but in pulling them
away some of the cats flesh came with the
crab and the cat mewed pitifully. 1t was weak
from the fright and pain and bled good deal.
The crabs were all detached after time.
Ceiss denounced for his conduct ana
women cried out that he ought to be arrested.
He wondered why: it was only joke. The eX-
citement was growing again. and as the gates
were opened Ceiss and his friends tried to es
cape Women rushed TO Pocenlah braun OF
the East Twenty-second-st. station They point
cd out Ceiss as the man who had caused the
panic Braun arrested him on a charge of cru
city to animals and disorderly conduct. The
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to AMI
mails took charge of cat and crabs