New-York tribune., 1922-05-07

n
~ feeling announcement that curiosity
once killed cat The statement in
vsriabIv is made ina tone that conveys
,enroof through an impression that it was the
felines own prying that resulted fatally. In
the interest of an unhindered development Of
inquiring minds it is time there was SONS
back-fro propaganda recording the demise Of
an uncurious cat at the hands Of a person
stepped in that quality.
1t happened this way: A small group Of
cats had congregated in the back yard Of
house in Fifteenth Street near Seventh Ave
rue. on the outskirts of Greenwich Village, for
a post-midnight discussion Of the rat shortage,
love, the incompetence of humanity, the good
old pre-Volstead days when every free lunch
counter had at least two cat-pensioners, and
the hcllsh nature of things in general. Natur-
ally their voices rose as differences of opinion
developed. Now, none of these cats had
thought to inquire as to the identity of the
resident of the house on the land that
their rendezvous.
The mans name was Charles Noe Daily. Mr..
Daily is broker down town. He is listed in
the social register, Until few years ago he
was in the United States consular service,
stationed at Guelph, Canada He is also a
member Of the Arms and Armour Club and it
is his passion for collecting firearms that is
the theme Of this story.
There was no way for the cats to know, as
they howled their contempt for humanity, that
Mr.. Daily is the possessor of the most complete
collection Of firearms in the United States,
and, some say. the world, There was no way,
either for any of them to know shat as they
howled there on the back fence Mr., DAILY was
contemplating an ancient weapon, double
barreed flint lock fowing piece with Genoese
red velvet covered stock. Nor could they know
that this gut. an assassin's weapon made by
LaMotte in France during the reign of Louis
XVI, had one barrel made for the of
powder and ball and the other, the right hand
barrel, designed to use air as propellant.
Mr.. DAILY sat there and subconsciously felt
annoyance at outcries in the back yard
with the conscious phase of his brain he
Tondered if that air gun was an effective
weapon The stock covered by the soft piece of
fabric was Of Steel containing the air reser-
eolr. There was a pump for it also, not I'm
lile the kind made for bicycle tires The pump
We tked all right, Mr.. DAILY knew, for he had
Just compressed some air into the stock, mar
vciirG as he did so at the skill of the me-
clanic who had ground that valve centuries
AGO. Mr.. DAILY thoughtfully dropped ball
o. lead the size Of marble down the barrel.
Then he cooked the deceptive fintlock, softly
raised the window overlooking the yard and
sighted the old gun on the arched back of a
splitting cat that stood in patch of moon
LIGHT IN the yard He pulled the trigger
lEere was faint hiss that might have come
from the throat of one of the cats, jar
against Mr.. Days shoulder, g sharp brief
yowl and then silence
In the morning Mr DAILY held a post-mor-
em on the remains of white and yellow
pussy that lay stiff in his garden. There was
round hole through the cats head through
ncF II would have been possible to have
u 7ped a lead pencil. Mr. Days inouiring
aind was satisfied. Curiosity had killed an
her cat.
There are more air guns all Of them dead
IN Mr.. Dalys collection but they are not
Ae most interesting in his collection. which
lcludes some 1900 weapons which he has
arranged in two large rooms Of his home 50
'.&c they illustrate with examples Of weapons
u So.llers, sportsmen and assassins the evo-
ouon Of firearms from the days of the cross
'o"' which while not frearm, he has in
odcd, as it was the first mechanical hand
hootlng machine
american inventive genius has led the
,0Fq Tor more than century in the produc-
'on OF guns, said Mr.. DAILY, while showing his
'tec'lsn recently. CAS- the first nation to
'""e arms by machinery and the interchange
o'e system we established a new industry that
l'hsed tho map of every country. Our fac
''4eS have turned out more arms and
i"pped more fighting men than all the other
a'lohs combined, and in many instances op-
'Slhg forces have been equipped with both
ms and ammunition from the same Ameri-
IN factory.
ne names Colt, Remington and Winches-
Z nave never been translated into a foreign
ngue, but are Synonymous to revolver mus
u and repeaterlwith the native of Alaska or
lrlca or the Gilman of New York or Lon
N. With record it is surprising that