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Story
December 27, 1895
The Morning News
Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia
What is this article about?
Motormen in Columbus dread killing cats with their streetcars due to superstition, unlike dogs, and often stop or reverse to check, as shared by a conductor.
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OCR Quality
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MOTORMEN DREAD CATS.
Use Every Effort to Prevent Their Cars Killing Felines.
From the Columbus Dispatch.
"A motorman will allow his car to run over a dog without any compunction, but when it comes to a cat on the track it brings out what little superstition may be in the man, and most of the motormen have a little," said a conductor to the Observer. The car had come to a sudden stop and all the passengers who had noticed a little kitten in front of the car stood up and looked to see if its mangled remains were on the track.
"Why, I have known my motorman to run his car back half a square at night to see if he had killed a cat," said the conductor. "The headlight on the car seems to attract them after dark and they will stand in front of an approaching car and their eyes gleaming in the darkness like balls of fire. They seem to make no effort to get out of the way and disappear from the motorman's view under the end of the car, leaving him in doubt as to whether he killed it or not. I guess when they get out of the range of the headlight they realize their position and scurry out of the way."
Use Every Effort to Prevent Their Cars Killing Felines.
From the Columbus Dispatch.
"A motorman will allow his car to run over a dog without any compunction, but when it comes to a cat on the track it brings out what little superstition may be in the man, and most of the motormen have a little," said a conductor to the Observer. The car had come to a sudden stop and all the passengers who had noticed a little kitten in front of the car stood up and looked to see if its mangled remains were on the track.
"Why, I have known my motorman to run his car back half a square at night to see if he had killed a cat," said the conductor. "The headlight on the car seems to attract them after dark and they will stand in front of an approaching car and their eyes gleaming in the darkness like balls of fire. They seem to make no effort to get out of the way and disappear from the motorman's view under the end of the car, leaving him in doubt as to whether he killed it or not. I guess when they get out of the range of the headlight they realize their position and scurry out of the way."
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
Animal Story
What keywords are associated?
Motormen
Cats
Superstition
Streetcars
Kittens
Where did it happen?
Columbus
Story Details
Location
Columbus
Story Details
A conductor explains how motormen superstitiously avoid or check for killing cats on streetcar tracks at night, unlike with dogs, due to headlights attracting felines.