The Superior Express -

Ninety years ago businesses which belonged to the Superior Commercial Club joined together to sponsor Black Cat Days. The event attracted statewide attention and business owners reported the two-day sales event was responsible for their best two days of the year.

The event demonstrated the power of advertising when a product the people want is combined with a price they can afford,

The Express was one of the participating business firms and the results far exceeded expectations. The Express editor offered to trade a one-year subscription to the newspaper for each black cat brought to the newspaper’s office on East Third Street.

That offer was made only once because the newspaper was soon overrun with black cats. This presented a problem which had not previously been considered. Perhaps members of the newspaper crew would have adopted a cat or two or knew of someone who would. But they had way more cats than expected. “What do you do with gunny sacks full of black cats?” During the Dust Bowl and Great Depression it was common for newspapers to trade subscriptions for sacks of grain or perhaps garden produce. Grain could be sold to the elevator or fed to livestock and garden produce could be consumed by the newspaper crew but cats? Perhaps a home could be found for a cat or two but not in the numbers that poured into 148 East Third Street.

The editor had a solution, the junior member of the pressroom crew was told to take the cats to the river and drown them.

When I joined the newspaper crew about 40 years later, Herb had advanced to become the senior member of the pressroom crew. He hadn’t forgotten the cats. He clearly explained he would have no part of a black cat trade. If I offered to accept black cats as payment for subscriptions.

Which brings us to the current era and stories about stray cats.

Last week the Lincoln Journal-Star newspaper reported Cameron, the capital cat, was missing without a trace. An extensive search of the Capital City had been made. Cameron’s picture had been circulated and even state senators interviewed but the cat was no where to be found.

Sunday the Journal-Star reported Cameron, after being missing for 8 days was back in his familiar haunt.

He had showed up unexpectedly at an apartment near the capitol. There the occupant let him in and fed him. After eating, he played a bit before asking to be let out. From the apartment, Cameron went and inspected the capitol building’s grounds.

Where he had been and what he had been doing remains a mystery. He apparently had found food and water for he appeared to be in good health.

If it wasn’t for the 120 miles that separate Superior and Lincoln, I would suspect Cameron had taken a vacation with a Superior stray named Peanuts.

I don’t know if Peanuts has a regular caregiver and home but he is a regular visitor to a number of Superior places including this editor’s residence. A curious cat, Peanuts has at least once walked into the newspaper office through an open door,

Often when we go home for lunch, Peanuts is on our front porch watching for us. Somedays he comes by our house for food but often he comes just to be petted. At night, I think he hears me coming and runs to greet me at the back door.

Like Cameron, Peanuts was gone for about a week. Peanuts has demonstrated little respect for automobiles and Rita and I fear what the future holds for him. After he failed to call at our house at the usual times, while we traveled about Superior, we were on the lookout for evidence of a flat cat.

About a week after his last visit to our house, Rita left the newspaper office ahead of me to start preparing supper.

I thought I was in trouble for staying too long at work when I saw a telephone call coming in from Rita. I was wrong for Rita was calling to report supper would be late as she found Peanuts waiting by the back door. He seemed to be in good health and wasn’t hungry. He apparently had just stopped by our house to be petted. Rita obliged and he showed his appreciation.

We would like to know where he had been and what he had been doing but if he was willing to tell when asked, we couldn’t understand his explanation.

As both Cameron and Peanuts are male cats. I suspect as spring arrives courtship dreams are interrupting their normal patterns.

A wet Peanuts came running to greet us at our back door when we returned from work about 10:30 Monday night. He was out of sorts and very demanding. He showed little interest in either being petted or eating. I suspect he wanted us to turn off the rain.c