The Prescott daily news., 1913-01-23
MOST COMPETENT CAT
By ALEX SAYRE.

arose and stretched itself in an in. sultingly careless manner, then gazed out of the window, oblivious of Denkins.
 If 1t is true that care killed a cat" muttered Denkins, then I say bully for care!"
 By nature Denkins was not at all blood-thirsty. He loved his fellow men and had been known to buy candy for babies, but he hated that cat. It was in the first place, a tramp cat, the sort one would be ashamed to claim as member of ones family. No amount of cream and chops ever could have made 1t look like anything else than mongrel. The family had intimated in every possible way to the cat that its presence was undesir- able, but the animal remained ob- livious to all hints. Denkins was ap- palled to realize the force of it's sheer persistency
 Why. if I had one-tenth the per. sistency of that cat" he told callers ono evening, T should now be push. ing Pierpont Morgan off the map or should be president of the United States That cat has simply made up it's mind to camp here and nothing can prevent It. If we lock 1t outdoors It claws open basement window and if we lock the basement windows 1t ascends the woodbine trellis and sits on the bedroom window ledge and yowls or else raises the screens and comes in triumphantly It approves of the butcher and grocer with whom we trade and nothing else matters. It is truly an awful thing to be adopt ed by cat!"
 When the Denkins family decided to be away for some weeks, Mrs. Denkins announced that the cat must be killed. She said 1t was not human to go away and leave 1t to starve to death, as it surely would, If neg lected
 "Starve!" echoed Denkins, scorn- fully. Why. that cat, dropped on desert island composed entirely of lava rock and coral reefs and dyna- mite. would root out living for it. self"
 T don't care.' persisted his wife. T wouldn't enjoy a minute of my vacation for thinking about the poor thing back here starving helplessly. You've got to put 1t out of Its misery!"
 "Very we'll" agreed Denkins And that'll put me out of mine I will chloroform it.
 The next time Denkins had few moments to spare he assembled the wash boiler. a sponge and a bottle of chloroform and hypocritically called: Kitty. kitty. Nice kitty," Then when the animal was trustingly with in his grasp he deposited 1t in the boiler with the deadly sponge. To his surprise the cat did not stay there, but came out as he withdrew his arm He barely caught the escaping ani- mal by the hind paw. It scratched wildly.
 "Here!" said Denkins severely You go back In there and stay!"
 Then Denkins learned something. The cover to a wash boiler Is an in- flexible object and raising 1t enough to get his arm out meant raising all one side of it. That afforded room for six cats to slip out If necessary. He let his arm hang inside as he meditated upon the situation and the cat scuffled about indignantly. Final ly it planted its claws in Denkins' bare wrist. Denkins yelled and jerked out his arm. The cat came, too, and made a gray streak through the at mosphere.
 For two weeks after that whenever Denkins appeared the cat at once arose and with obvious dislike left the room. The speed with which it left depended in some degrees upon the speed with which Denkins pur- sued. Usually the chase ended in the cats leaping to the top of the furnace. where it was out of reach There its green eyes shone maliciously as 1t would sit and wave it's tail and taunt Denkins silently.
 He could think of nothing else ex- cept killing that cat. So when he walked into the living room and found the cat curled up In ball asleep in the very last chair he gasped with the suddenness of the thought that came to him.
 Kitty" he said, 'it strikes me that you would just about At into pail. I'll see."
 Tiptoeing to the kitchen. he got pail and the sponge and chloroform and with the sponge inside the pail he clapped 1t down over the cat and sat upon 1t. It was not a pleasant