The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1906-11-08
PHILApELpHiA,s WILD cara
Progeny Of Pair introduced Into City
Hall Years Ago to Kill Rats.

Hall Years Ago to Kill Rats.
Almost as wild az were their an.
eestors Of the jungle. q pack OF sati
roam the cavernous ecesses OF the
CELLAR Of City Hall.
Foraging for their own provendsi
and scampering, snarling and spittina
at the approach of any of the employ.
es of the municipal building, the cats
which are the progeny OF q pair In
troduced some years ago to exter.
inmate rats, have increased to such
numbers that steps are being consid-
cred to drive them out.
Although their exact number is not
known, 1t is estimated that there are
at least twenty in the pack, and with
q few exceptions none has felt the
touch Of human hand. Left to them
selves. they have responded to the call
Of the wild.
It has been about two years since
the first pair of cats were put In the
city hall cellar. The stork visited
them and the mother cat hid the lit
ter OF kittens away in one of the many
unused passages between the founda'
tions. The kittens were half grown
before any Of the men who work in the
basement got a glimpse Of any OF
them.
While the parent cats still came to
the workmen for food and passed con.
siderable time about the boiler rooms,
the young ones, unaccustomed to hui
man company, did not follow their
lead. The workmen occasionally in
leisure hours organized hunts for the
half grown kittens. There were four
Of them and several times the men
had them cornered, but the little fel.
lows. wild with terror, could not be
picked up any more than a piece OF
red hot iron. They few at their
captors with tooth and claw and when
several of the men had been badly
torn In the vicious attacks they left
the cats to their W
Since then the cats have increased
In numbers rapidly and have grown
more savage as they multiply. In
the city hall cellar there are parts
which have never been explored since
the building was erected, dark as pitch
and filed with all manne Of debris.
II Is there that the pack Of wild cats
have made their home. They hnd
their W food in the rats in the eel.
lar and make no attempt to venture
into any Of the Inhabited portions
keeping strictly to themselves as long
as left unmolested.
So wild and ferocious have they be-
come that there is positive danger in
any ones attempting to penetrate their
haunts. A curiosity to see the strange
breed Of cats has led workmen az
times to pick their way into the re
treats where they have entrenched
themselves. None who made the ut.
tempt went Ear. The angry cater.
wailings that heralded their approach
proved too strong for their nerves and
they were glad enough to beat a re-
treat. The men say that all they
could see of the cats were their eyes
blazing like Goals as they reluctantly
backed farther into the gloom. Such
an invasion of their territory worked
the cats into such a state Of terror
that their angry wailings could be
heard for half an hour after the men
had gone away.
One Of the strange features Of the
relapse Of the cats into a wild state
is that they regard the two domestic
cats from whom they sprung as their
enemies. Since the brood waxed
strong the domestic cats cannot be
induced to leave the Inhabited por-
ton Of the cellar and 60 among the
savage brood.