MORE CATS: Even The Bradford Era had an entry in that cat
contest – Mrs. Langtry, described as “”a demure white kitty with
soulful eyes, willowy form and all the graces of her
namesake.””[neWLine]

The Era story went on: “”She kept aloof from the vulgar herd,
even as the Lily does, and was the occupant of a large wire cage on
a stand and decorated with ribbons.””[neWLine]

“”‘Mrs. Langtry’ has been actively identified with this office
since 1879, the year of her birth, and is in some respects a
remarkable animal. The rumor that she has been kicked out of every
store on Main Street and took to the printing office as a last
resort is a base libel.””[neWLine]

We continue today with an article in the Feb. 10, 1884, Era
about a “”grand cat show”” held at the old Orpheus
Hall.[neWLine]

“”Every visitor is besieged by a throng of children with cries
of ‘please vote for my cat,’ and the most importunate canvasser
generally gets the most votes. The tabbies are very well-behaved,
though probably longing for midnight courtship and pitched battles
on the roofs.[neWLine]

“”A good many people have been surprised to see their own cats
on exhibition without the consent of the owner, small boys having
bagged the animals without the formality of obtaining
consent.[neWLine]

“”Some of the owners were indignant, but others hoped that the
cats would never find their way home again. …[neWLine]

“”There were sleek motherly cats apparently scandalized to find
themselves made a show of, hotel cats accustomed to seeing many
people and retained the haughty air they had learned from room
clerks; cats of low degree accustomed to foraging about backyards
and captured by that terror of their lives, small boys; desperado
cats, bearing upon their persons the ineffaceable marks of a
midnight bootjack and honorable scars earned in moonlight duels;
sickly cats with colds, contracted by lodging in ash barrels; and
the printing office cat, subsisting at the second table after the
printers and finding sweet repose in the ‘hellbox.'””