Wildcat Tale from Yaphank

New York, 1895

While hunting for opossum in a hollow near Yaphank Sherman Day and Stephen Davis claim to have had an exciting encounter with a wildcat. The men saw the beast on a tree and drew their guns to their shoulders to shoot it. The cat sprang from the tree to Davis's chest. The cat and the man rolled over on the ground.

The beast was getting the best of Davis when Day pulled a jack knife and stuck it into the animal. The cat then turned its attention to Day. It jumped at the latter, who, as the cat landed, plunged the knife deep into the beast's side. It fell to the ground apparently dead.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 15, 1895, p. 1.