KILKENNY CATS.

TWO CATS OF KILKENNY.

There once were two cats of Kilkenny,

Each thought there was one cat too many,

So they fought and they fit,

And they scratched and they bit,

Till, excepting their nails

And the tip of their tails,

Instead of two cats there weren’t any.

The Marathon Independent, Wednesday, February 27, 1884.

Kilkenny Cats.

   The story has been so long current that it has become a proverb—“as quarrelsome as the Kilkenny cats”—two of the cats in which city are asserted to have fought so long and so furiously that naught was found of them but two tails.

   The correct version of this saying is this: During the rebellion which occurred in Ireland in 1798, Kilkenny was garrisoned by a regiment of Hessian soldiers, whose custom it was to tie together, in one of their barrack-rooms, two cats by their respective tails, and then throw them face to face across a line generally used for drying clothes. The cats naturally became infuriated and scratched each other in the abdomen until death ensued to one or both of them.

   The officers were made acquainted with the barbarous acts of cruelty, and resolved to put an end to them. For this purpose an officer was ordered to inspect each barrack-room daily and report its state. The soldiers, determined not to lose the daily torture of the cats, generally employed one of their comrades to watch the approach of their officer. On one occasion he neglected his duty, and the officer was heard ascending the stairs while the cats were undergoing their usual torture.

   One of the troopers seized a sword from the arms-rack, and with a single blow divided the tails of the cats. The cats escaped through the open windows of the room, which was entered instantly afterwards by the officer, who inquired what was the cause of the bleeding cats’ tails being suspended on the line, and was told in reply that “two cats had been fighting in the room; that it was found impossible to separate them, and they had fought so desperately that they had devoured each other up, with the exception of their tails.”—Irish Nation.

Independent News Items.

Canastota Water Works.

   Canastota is getting ready to put in water works. The proposed reservoir is to contain 30,000,000 gallons of water.

Suicide Because of Toothache.

   HANCOCK, March 18.—Lena Couch committed suicide here yesterday by taking laudanum. She was tired of life and while suffering with a tooth ache, sought relief in death.

Death of an Old Utican.

   NEW YORK, March 17.—Hon. D. C. Grove, ex-Mayor of Utica, and for more than thirty years one of the proprietors of the Utica Observer, died here this morning, aged 58. His remains will be taken to Utica.

A Farmer’s Wife’s Pocket Picked.

   DEPOSIT, N. Y.—Mrs. Wilson Gibson, wife of a farmer in Deposit, had her pocket picked of $800 getting off an Erie passenger train. She had just received the money from a bank, $400 being in gold. The money was tied up in a handkerchief and she did not miss it until arriving here.

Suicide at Rochester.

   Rochester, March 18.—Roland Jones, aged 50 years, jumped from the Central avenue bridge into the river here this afternoon and was carried over the falls. He was seen just before he jumped, but not in time to receive any assistance. He leaves a wife and several children. He is thought to have been insane, caused by brooding over the fear of having his personal property taxed.

Rev. Mr. Gee Indicted.

   Rev. Gee, a former preacher in this locality, now an extensive property owner in Ithaca, was recently indicted by the Tompkins Co., Grand Jury on the charge of leasing rooms in his block on East State street to a tenant who used the same for improper purposes. He gave bail in the sum of $400 with Mr. T. J. McElheny as surety.

   Mr. Gee's friends, several of whom have been interviewed, declare the indictment an outrage and that the Grand Jury has erred in listening to personal enemies of the accused, and are emphatic in stating that any landlord in Ithaca is liable to a similar injustice. Marathon Independent, Mar. 19, 1884.