Waterbury Democrat., 1903-01-23
A GOOD CAT STORY.
Mouse Hunt at the Stamford Show a
 Clever Press Agents Hoax.

Clever Press Agents Hoax.
 Stamford makes it's bow to all press agents and points to the famous mouse killing field trials" as stand ard for their emulation. ...e
 That is all the episode amounts to- press agent plot pure, but not sim pie, ill which an imaginative young man, aided and abetted by group of clever women, hoaxed the country for a week, caused endless perturbation to societies and individuals, even started the wheels of justice revolving, and in- cidentally obtained column upon col umn of advertising for the poultry and cat show which opened this week in Stamford.
 The only cat ever designed to ap- pear at the field trial, it is now known, is an automatic affair, bought at a toy store. The only mice are of choc- olate, manufactured by a New York confectioner. Stamford is laughing, but some of the laughter does not ap- pear to come from the heart, although Mayor Leeds has announced that he will enter black kitten of doubtful antecedents for the show. .
 The denouement came Saturday with the suddenness of & thunderclap. That was when a delegation of the Cat club called on the mayor to appeal for his official sanction of the trials, 1t was thought.
 They were headed by their presf- dent, Mrs Homer s. Cummings, and comment was made that for women who were in favor of such n brutal exhibition they were exceedingly mer- ry. Following them came several score of men and women representa- tives of the. local Society for the Pre- vention of Cruelty to Animals, repre- sentatives of churches and others, to give the mayor support in his refusal to countenance the scheme. E'
 Details of the visit have not been revealed, but it is said that after the mayor had not only refused his con sent, but promised the full punish ment of the law, one of the visitors smilingly took from under her coat the toy cat.
 "This is the only cat we ever in tended to put in the pit," she gurgled.
 '"This is mousse" supplemented another, producing the candy. Then there was general tittering.
 You see, MT Mayor, we are very much obliged to you, but, you see, it is what they call, think-er press agent story to get advertising" Some of the supporting delegation stole soft ly from the room at this juncture, and the visitors told the mayor singly and i'll unison how when they were meet ing one night to devise some way of attracting attention to the show, Mrs Cummings had said she just knew if they had cat contest where their kittens could kill mice for a prize the country would attend. The press agent heard, pondered, and the com mittee went into executive session. The following day the announcement was spread broadcast, and in a day more the wave of indignation from all sides had washed. the enterprise far up on the shore of publicity. Then some of the committee got afraid, but the press agent met them and argued. They agreed to stick it out and kept the secret. ..ea yv
 That the scheme was successful was evidenced from the outset. Less than a day late John F. Haines of New York, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, wrote Mrs Cummings a letter, and newspapers, both local and distant, be- gan to attack the proposed trial ed1- torially. The Connecticut society im> mediately held meeting and appoint ed committees to see that the law was not violated. Ministers from the pull pit on Sunday denounced 1t as an out rage. The Rev De Loss Love, head of the Connecticut Humane society, an- nounced that he would leave no stone unturned to prevent the sanguinary carnival. Mayor Leeds took up the cudge1s and declared he would see that 1t was stopped.
 A wit among the mayors packers suggested: "Let the women enter the ring against the mice, and give the sil- yer cup to the woman who kills one. That would be fair, and very good sport Besides, the mouse is just as much the natural enemy of the woman as it Is the natural prey of the cat"
 This is where the Stamford small boy comes in. He heard about this mouse-baiting contest week ago. He argued, and not without point. that there could be no contest without mice. That meant that mice had a market value. He would supply the mice and have money for valentines.
 Twenty small boys argued the same way, and they have been busy day and night capturing mice and even rats. Ii Is safe to say that never before were so many rodents held alive in that mice-hatfng city - N
 It was with visions of fieeting profits that the boys heard of Mayor Leeds's interference. Two of them met on a corner of the square.
 one. &.rr1e'' '>,> y,N = =
 Five, and three big wharf rats. How many you got?" -I
 Got nothing but mice, but I've got big box full" said the first boy. "But what you think about this mayor bust ness? Maybe they won't buy the mice after all
 This bothered the other youth for a minute. Then he had an idea. "Do you know what we can do?" he asked. "Whatg' demanded the other eager ly. aTTfT !.
 Well. if the 1yoman vba+ ora r,,,