Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-06-30
THE CLERK AND HIS COON.
a Tragedy in Prospect in an AUGUSTA
Grocery Store.

pose of 1t more readily if it were. The
property referred to is a coon, and
thereby hangs a tale.
some time ago. the young man came
into the possession of a coon which had
been recently caught in the neighboring
wilds. The coon naturally was not
very much pleased with his change of
residence, nor his forced association
with mankind, and the combination
had a decidedly bad effect upon his
otherwise amiable disposition, for after
being brought to the store he resented
the most friendly advances, and main
| tained a hostile manner toward all
who approached his cage.
Finally his owner heard Of a tame
| coon that was for sale, and thinking
that perhaps association with the
tame one might make the wild more
tractable. ne purchased it and brought
1t down to the store, putting it into the
| cage with the other.
| That did not prove to be what could
be called an unqualified success, for the
| tame coon had not been in the cage 80
| seconds before it was impossible to tell
whether the cage contained two coons
| or forty. To the observer, there was
inside the box an endless chain of coon.
| accompanied by perfect cyclone of
snarls and yells, and when at length it
was possible to open the door of the
cage, and let the tame coon out. he
looked as if he had been on a person.
| ally conducted excursion through Il
| Hamburg steak machine.
The wild coon was the smaller of the
! two, but he was gifted in the scrap
| ping TACTICS of the wild to an
extent which the tame one had
either never known. or had for
| gotten, and he gave the other
| such drubbing i'm the short space Of
| time that they were together. that all
attempts at promoting a closer ac-
quaintance between the two were ADAM
doncd and the tame one was forced to
sleep on top of the cage. while the wild
one held the interior against all in
truders.
And while he would allow nothing
but food to be passed in to him, he was
equally avcrse to coming out. himself.
He had a collar about his neck, and Il
stout chain was attached to his collar,
but when it came to getting him out
side of his den, it was like pulling
down a brick wall to get him through
the door. He did not weigh more than
ten pounds, but when he would brace
himself in response to a pull on the
chain, he eXcrted an amount of resist
anco that was equal to about Is pounds
to the square inch. After this opera
ton had been gone through several
times. and each time at the imminent
risk Of pulling his spinal column. tail
and all. out by the roots, it was given
| up and he was left even more to him
self.
one night he got out of the cage, and
| las been out ever since. About this
| time. his owner had an offer of $40 for
| the pair, and having become tired of
trying to domcsticate the missing one,
| would readily have sold him, could he
| have got his hands on him, but liberty
| is as sweet to a coon to anything
else in the animal kingdom. even
though it be within the confines of a
grocery store, and the fugitive is still
at large.
| The tame coon was sold and there is
u standing offer for the other one, but
as matters stand now. there is not
much prospect of a delivery of thu
| goods The coon has the run of the
store, and seems to he well satisfied
with his lot. as he makes no effort to
sock the outer world. All he desires Is
to be let alone. and seems to have
taken measures to ensure the carrying
out of his desires.
He has established his headquarters
| i'm the basement. between wooden
partition and the front wall of the
/ store. and has a hole by which he
| reaches his retreat The people in the
| store have had several Elimpses of him
i as he vanished through the aperture,
i and have seen the green glitter of his
eyes in the darkness beyond, but that
IS All. They might Kill him. but the
thought of the standing offer prevents
and so he is allowed to live. while
4 plans are being promulgated Tor ms
/ capture alive and unframed.
There is no danger that he VIII
| staryc. for he has free access 10 the
| store above. and that he visits tha'
mart If the building is manifest from
the traces left from his midnight raids
His taste is evidently for animal food
| e. urbon the store is opened. each
mornric. his trail is marked by scraps
of meat and bones, which lead from the
waste box down the cellar stairs, &c
the spot where he takes the air line
for his den. He has not molested any
thing else in the catable line as yet
although he could do SO. should MS
taste change. and the potatoes onions
olives and pickles have not been as
sailed.
How long this condition Of affairs
will exist is problematical but it Is
said that TIE owner of the store u
kecping an account of the materials
which the coon is carrying OH. am
whom the cash value of what ne oe'
stroys equals the amount OF inc s''i',''
ing offer. there is apt to De uassu,
enacted i'm the basement, IN WHICH III"
coon will be the central figure.