It Puts Dog Out of Business and Attacks a Man.
Middletown, Conn., May 4.–John Simonton, who raises chickens at Deep River, near here, had a desperate battle with a wildcat near his home on Saturday night.
Simonton had gone to the chicken pen with his dog to look over the poultry much of which had been stolen of late, and he caught the cat making off with a chicken.
Simonton’s dog jumped at the cat, which turned and struck a blow that tore his head open. Simonton seized a club just as the beast sprang for his face. He sidestepped and swung at it with the weapon, but missed, and the cat sank its claws into his arm. He shook it off, but it came at him again. Simonton fought with such desperation that he at last got in a blow that broke his club over the head of the cat.
This stunned the animal, and with another club Simonton dispatched it. It is the first specimen of a wildcat seen in this section for years, and is about three feet long and weighs 50 pounds.
Middletown 366 