CAT AS FIRE AGENT.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVI, Issue 51, 7 December 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

CAT AS FIRE AGENT.

f THE MODHKN INCKXDI AliV

"And Samson went and caught foxes and took firebrands and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails. And when lie had set the brands on fire i let them go into the standing corn ni the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing corn, with ihe vineyards and olives."—-Book <i

•Judges, chapter 15. The old familiar Bible story of Samson and the loxes, and how he revenged himself on his enemies the Philistines has been apparently plagiarised in action by souk* Liverpool incendiaries. A remarkable discovery was made bv a party of salvage firemen .engaged in a Liverjxiol cotton warehouse which «'ii September H) wa.s the scene of a slight outbreak of fire. Whilst a search un being made among the debris, it was noticed that several bricks had been i"inoved from the wall, and a further examination revealed a«livo cat, with a long string attached to its tail, upon which were the remains of some char-vd material that had evidently been saturated with inflammable liquid. The'theory <?f the police is that the cat was deliberately sent into the warehouse where the cotton was stored, the artificial tail having been lighted beforehand. The prompt suppression of the fire no doubt saved the cat's life. The discovery confirms the police in the belief that the numerous cotton fires of the past few months have been the work of incendiaries, for the discovery of whom they have offered a reward of £SOO.