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Show CATAMOUNT STORY. Incident oof the Early Days of Jay Cooke. Jav Cooke's life was now running at full tide, writes Dr. OborhoU:''i' in tr.e Century. He was asked to neDou.ie loans for the Mexican ana Japanese governments. He was constantly in contact w ith financial ami P'u cal leaders of the first rank, jie nsnect with President 1 Grant ana Moorhoad in the Potomac, witli '-Jse in Lake Erie, and with Senator Cat-tell Cat-tell of New Jersey, o.f the coast of that state. Several times Mrs. ..ant and the president's sons were m camp w ith the Cookes at the nnancicr s South Mountain estate in sou.n.Mi Pennsylvania. An entire township there, which was named for Jay CooKe, cast its vote solidly for General t.rant in J872. after one of their visits to the little neighborhood. Here the banker was a bov with the rest. One night while he was tellms tnem Indian stories, receiving thn'r rapt attention, at-tention, a hideous screech was heard outside. Instantly each lad sprang to his feet. The crv was repeated. "Hush!" exclaimed Mr. Cooke. Its a catamount!" All the boys drew revolvers and organized or-ganized a party to make an end to the ferocious animal. They at last traced it to a tree, and banged away, without knowing that, acting under Jay Cooke's instructions, a man on the ! place, who was safely hidden, was uttering ut-tering the. cries while holding an effigy effi-gy aloft by a rope. Finally a snet brought the thing to ihe ground, anl the boys ran up to claim the- prize. Robert Douglas, son of Stephen A. Douglas, shouted exultantly, "I killed the catamount!" and as soon as straw-was straw-was seen protruding from under the skin there was no disposition to dispute his title to the honor. The next day the hills resounded with the news that Doughty had killed the catamount. A few years passed; the boy became a man. and was slmnniiij the state of North Carolina in a contest conducted, if on a smaller scale, very much like a series of joint debates between his father and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. Illi-nois. At the end of a speech it was customary to inquire if any one m the audience had a question tt) propound to the orator. Finally one night Douglas Doug-las was faced by an old fellow, who said: "Mr. Douglas, might I ask you a question ?" "Certainly," he answered, unsuspectingly. unsuspect-ingly. "Well, there is just one thing I would like to ask you, and it is this." ! the man continued, gravely, "Who killed the catamount?" |