Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-03
Start of'Ka+ie
Bar the Door
Revealed
Cured Indians Who Lost
Sea- ps. Bear That Didn't
BY DAMON RUNYON

By DAMON RUNYON
DETER TAMONY. an insur-
= ance man Of San Francisco,
whose passion is delving into
etymology, or words, appeals to
us for information. He wants
to know the identity of one OF
the famous characters of Ameri-
can speech, inquiring, who was
the Katie of the expression.
Katie, bar the door p"
She was Katherine Sullivan
Jale. and lovely lass by all
accounts. She came from Ire
land as a young girl and mar
ried an upstate New York fell
low named Joseph Jale, who
was known far and wide as
Fishface Jale. because he bore
a striking facial resemblance to
"A bass. We think the Jales lived
about 30 miles from Saratoga
Springs. The period was prior
TO the Revolution.
In those days, hostile Indians
abounded in that section of New
York. as you must know if you
have read Walter Edmonds'
stories or have seen the cine
matte epics laid in that time.
Joe Jale farTncd little. but his
speciality was trapping Indians.
He made a good thing of it,
too, as you shall see.
LIE USED to make Katherine,
IL his beautiful wife, sit in the
doorway of their rough hewn
log cabin when the harvest moon
was at its full so that its glow
might bring out in all its glory
the sheen of her long. flowing
tresses.
We forgot to tell you that
Katherine had long, flowing
tresses, which is one of the
points of the story. Whilen
Katherine was a-settin'. Joe
would keep hidden from sight.
Well, pretty soon an Indian
would come along and seeing
Katherine's shining hair, he
would out with his scalping shlv
with the idea of divesting her
of her gorgeous hirsute adorn-
ment.
II was not in upstate Indian
nature TO resist hair like that.
But at his first lunge she would
retreat into the cabin, the In
dian would follow, and then Joe
would pop out OF his hiding
place. bawling:
katie, bar the door,"
The idea of having Katie bar
the door was to keep the Indian
from escaping. Then Joe would
get busy on that scalping stuff
himself. He sold the Indian hair
thus accumulated TO a mattress
factory in Amsterdam. n. Y.
getting as high as SIG a ton
for il.
He was in a fair way to get
ting rich. There were a lot of
Indians in upstate New York in
those days. tSee Edmonds.)
Once it is related that Katie
lured the entire Hoogaboogah
tribe into the cabin in one batch.
all eager for a piece OF her
trcSseS, and nary one got out.
We do not vouch for this story.
but the fact remains that you
cannot now find vestige of the
Hoogaboogah tribe in upstate
New York.
NOW then. one night when the
~ moon was not present and
objects were not distinguishable
at a distance. dark form came
into Joe Jale's cabin. and think
ing it was one of the usual In
Juns. even though the trap was
not set, Joe yelled. Katie, bar
the door," and Katie barred il,
and Joe closed with the sup
posed Indian but it turned out
to be old Two-toes. the tough
est bear in the Adirondacks. 1t
made mincemeat of Joe.
1t might have made mince-
meat of Katie. too. but it seems
she had the foresight to climb
out a window after barring the
door. and to this day it is whis-
pered among the survivors Of
that pre-revolutionary period
who still sit around the hotel
porches at Saratoga Springs
that she knew it was a bear all
the time.
She went to live in Saratoga.
the bear sparing her the expense
of a funeral for Joe and she ran
a boarding house and took in
horse players for boarders.
Her husbands favorite ex-