PARTNERSHIP IN A CAT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 195, 16 August 1879, Page 5

PARTNERSHIP IN A CAT.

F^r the following story our Parisian contemporary, the Gaulois, is responsible. \7 e will only remark that if its claima to s authenticity be substantial; the President o f the Tribunal, before whom the cot. ,ten ding parties brought their dispute, n/* UBfc bave been a modem Solomon. Eour l^ 6ll in Algeria, says the Parasian journa *i clubbed together to buy a certaia quantity of cotton, and as the market pric .^ °f their merchandise fell subsequent to the purchase, they stored the bales in an i/oper storej of a house to bide their time until a. rise came. Fearing, however, t"hat aa; enemy in the shape of mice might .^ork havoc with their joint property, tiNy procured a cat to keep the foe in respect, pusa being also looked upon as a joint concern, each partner in the affair laying claim to a leg. By some means or other, shortly after "the cat was installed to keep guard over the cotton, one of her legs got injured, and he who looked upon the Bick member as his special property, wrapped it up carefully in a piece of well-oiled rag, witb a view of effecting a cure. A mischievous lad who had access to the garret,, thinking to have some fun, set light to the oiled rag, which caused poor puss to run hither and thither in her fright, ultimately inducing her to take refuge beneath the cotton. This thoughtless action on the cat's part resulted in a catastrophe; the cotton blazed, and was speedily totally destroyed ; whereupon the three partners who owned the sound legs brought an action against the proprietor of the injured one which had communicated the fire, to recover the value of their share of the cotton. The judgment, however, went againafe the plaintiffs, on the following grounds:: —The injured leg, said the magistrate,, it was true had been the unconscious incendiary, but without the aid of the sound ones it could not have set fire to the merchandise ; consequently, the owner of the cat's other three legs and three-fourths of the cotton were condemned to pay their partner the value of his share of the goods destroyed by fire.