Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1913-03-06

Berlin Iudge Fines Soldiers Who
Shot Night ProwIers.
Believed Felines intendec
10 Shay His Tame Rasen--Resi-
dents Not Allowed 70
Moieat Animals.

WGtE4A FAAAtfu0tas
Perrin. Germany is the paradise OF
cats Berlin correspondent writes
ln NO other country, except perhaps
ancient Egypt where the cat used 20
be regarded as sacred has pussey's
wellbeing ever been studied more
carefully than fl is Ia the fatheriand
oday Good Americans, so It's said.
80 70 Paris when they die. bat Amer
lean cats can desire no more biissiui
future state than 70 be transported
to Germany after nine well spent lives
under the stars and stripes.
Jerome f. jerome. you may remem
ber discovered how carefully cats are
looked after in the fatherland ln
Three Men on the Bummel" be tells
how he hurled the usual bootjack anc
other missiles at some Berlin cats
whose yowls We're disturbing his
slumbers, and how he was prompts
waited on by a German policeman,
Who had carefully collected all his am
munition, and demanded to know why
the articles had been thrown. When
told that they had been flung az cats
he demanded What cats?" evidently
expecting Jerome to be able TO fur
nish the name and address of each
particular feline Then he informed
the novelist that in Germany people
are not permitted to throw things al
cats, even when the animals are pre-
venting them from sleeping He said
the proper course to pursue was 70
pursue the cat, in other words. follow
il home and, thus having ascertained
who the serenader belonged TO- to
make-a complaint. which, If unheeded.
could be followed by legal proceed
ings
Now. German law has solemnly laid
down the circumstances-and the only
ones-under which a cat may be shot.
A lieutenant in the army who lives
in Berlin shot two and dire IS the
penalty that has befallen him for thus
destroying eighteen lives. He has been
mulcted. as the legal phrase has it, in
damages amounting to $50, or SIS per
cat besides having TO pay all costs.
This lieutenant, whose name was
Klotz, has a tame raven which spends
most of its time In strutting about his
garden. The lieutenant believed that
two cats who kept prowling in the vi
cinity had designs on the raven, and
after seating them a few times he
shot first one and then the other, the
latter when it was sneaking along the
garden path in the direction which
the raven had taken on its morning
promanade Now. it seems that he
acted precipitately A Teuton judge
has decreed that the owner Of birds
or any birdlover in Germany who sus
pects 4 cat Of having marked a certain
bird Tor it's own must walt until he
~atches the feline in the very act OF
pouncing on its prey Then he may
hoot it but not otherwise even
hough the yard may be strewn with
he plumage of precious feathered vic
Tins of the assassin.
A cat may not be molested even If
it is seen sinking away with your
canary in its mouth. That is not con
elusive evidence, according to the re-
cent judicial decision The thing to
be done is to arm yourself with a gun
lay in a good stock of patience, and
lie in wait for the cat II you actual
~ see 1t about to spring on bird
then shoot, and a good aim to you, but
If all these conditions are not full
filled the cat may walk past you with
peace in fits heart and mocking
smile on it's face. secure in its legal
rights
In deciding the Berlin case the
Judge severely condemned Lieutenant
Klotz' action in massacring the cats
without positive proof that they medi-
tated the destruction Of his raven The
learned magistrate held that the cats
having been seated" once, could
have been seated again without re-
course OF bloodshed, and he incidental
~ laid down the law for cat killing
as set forth above Whether the cats
of Berlin laughed or not when they
heard the verdict is not known, but Il
certainly was enough to make them.