Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

Without any comment, I'll present you with this, uh, "festive" story from the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch," August 12, 1875:

Nature, when in a festive mood, performs many odd freaks, but the most wonderful of which we have ever heard was the bird of a strange monstrosity about two weeks ago and not a half dozen miles from Joplin. The circumstance was related to us by a physician whose reputation for truth and veracity cannot be questioned.  At the request of the unfortunate parents the physician’s name as well as theirs will not at this time be made public.

About one o’clock a.m., 23d ultimo, Dr. ___ was summoned to attend Mrs. ___, who was momentarily expected to be confined. Arriving there he found three or four women gathered in a state of great excitement, and on inquiring the cause of their agitation, he was shown to the bedside, where he found the lady in a state of great nervous prostration. After administering the necessary remedies, which succeeded in quieting her nerves, he was shown into another room where he beheld a strange-looking being which the lady had given birth to a few minutes before his arrival. Even the doctor, who was accustomed to see strange sights, was shocked at this. Wrapped in its swaddling cloths lay the child, if child it could be called, weighing about eight pounds, with a head whose forehead was well developed, but whose mouth, nose, eyes, ears and general countenance were the exact counterpart of a cat’s, though the eyes, from their dazzling brilliancy, looked much like a serpent’s. The body, arms and hands were well formed and natural and so were the legs as far down as the knees. From the knees they bore an almost exact resemblance to the leg of a chicken—the foot was as near a chicken’s foot as can be imagined—and the infant would contract its toes just as a chicken would. Its head and neck were covered with a growth of fine black hair, the body and limbs looked like a chicken when plucked of its feathers; its cries were those of a cat. Other peculiarities were noticeable, but perhaps it is best not to make them public at this time.  [Ed. note: We appreciate that.]

It is said that this unfortunate circumstance was brought about in this way: Some five or six months ago, while the parents resided in another state, the lady was watching a fight between a cat and rooster in an adjoining yard. Two boys, aged ten and twelve years respectively, were watching the contest with great interest. Finally the cat caught the chicken by the neck and instantly dispatched him. The older boy grabbed a light ax, and uplifting it, rushed toward the younger, saying: “D__n you, your cat killed my rooster, and I’ll kill you.” The younger brother, in attempting to escape, stumbled and fell. At this stage of the proceedings the lady fell to the floor in a swoon, but only recovered to pass from one spasm to another, which continued for several hours, and the result was the birth of this monstrosity.

The parents wished the child put out of the way by violent means, but after a deal of persuasion and the promise of a large sum of money, the doctor was allowed to retain it, provided he would never make its parentage known or exhibit for two years. He has hired an old negro man and his wife, who live at an out-of-the-way place on the Arkansas line, to raise the infant. Less than a week ago he heard from it and it was growing finely.

Hey, these things happen.