Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

I suppose the headline pretty much says it all, but read on. The "Los Angeles Herald," January 21, 1910:

NEW YORK, Jan. 20.—Assistant Purser L.F. Lipscombe of the Royal Mail Packet steamship Orotava was in desperate straits last night. The curse foretold by the Obi woman, the seeress he had consulted many months ago in Hamilton, Bermuda, had come upon him. 

He had seen a white rat, not once, but three times, on the voyage, from the Summer lsle that ended here yesterday.

All of the 101 passengers know of the direful thing that menaced the assistant purser. All knew he must have that rat killed by a black tomcat that had not a single while hair. For had not the Obi woman said so? Mr. Lipscombe himself confirmed it and groaned as he did so.

"You will have good fortune," she told him, "until you see a wild white rat. When you do ill luck will follow you unless a perfectly black male cat kills the rat."

The assistant purser laughed with joy. His fortune teemed assured, for who ever heard of a wild white rat?

That was last summer, and the assistant purser's lucky star seemed on the ascendant until the Orotava was cutting the Atlantic two days ago. Then the rat appeared. It leaped on the table in front of Mr. Lipscombe, ran across it, jumped to the floor, scampered the length of the saloon and disappeared. The sight of that white rat spoiled the assistant purser's dinner. He sought the ship's cat, but alas! the animal's tail was tipped with white. It was such a tiny white speck in the very end of the tail that Mr. Lipscombe did not notice it until the cat made many futile efforts to catch the white rat that appeared twice on Sunday.

Then Mr. Lipscombe shut up the cat, fearing it would kill the rat, and to have the wrong sort of cat do that would be the worst of evils. He was moody when the ship berthed, and as soon as he could leave his duties and the sympathizing passengers he went ashore to look for an utterly black tomcat.

Purser Sturgess says he has not the least idea how that white rat came aboard the Orotava.

As is usually the case with the really good newspaper items, there was no follow-up to this story, so I have no idea how Mr. Lipscombe's travails ended.