Hessian Soldiers, Stationed in Ireland, Were Responsible for One of the
Most Desperate Battles in History.
For more than a century the Kilkenny cats, which “fought until there was
nothing left of them but their tails,” have been regarded as the most
quarrelsome creatures of which there is any record.
Various accounts of their memorable encounter have appeared from time to
time, but the version which is given the most credence is that offered
by a writer in the _Irish Nation_. This story is as follows:
The story has been so long current that it has become a proverb—“as
quarrelsome as the Kilkenny cats”; two of the cats in which city are
asserted to have fought so long and so ferociously that naught was
found of them but their tails.
The facts are these: During the rebellion which occurred in Ireland in
1798, Kilkenny was garrisoned by a regiment of Hessian soldiers, whose
custom it was to tie together, in one of their barrack-rooms, two cats
by their respective tails, and then throw them face to face across a
line generally used for drying clothes. The cats naturally became
infuriated, and scratched each other in the abdomen until death ensued
to one or both of them.
The officers were made acquainted with the barbarous acts of cruelty,
and resolved to put an end to them. For this purpose an officer was
ordered to inspect each barrack-room daily and report its state. The
soldiers, determined not to lose the daily torture of the cats,
generally employed one of their comrades to watch the approach of
their officer.
On one occasion he neglected his duty, and the officer was heard
ascending the stairs while the cats were undergoing their customary
torture. One of the troopers seized a sword from the armrack and with
a single blow divided the tails of the cats.
The cats escaped through the open windows of the room, which was
entered instantly afterward by the officer, who inquired what was the
cause of the two bleeding cat’s tails being suspended on the line, and
was told in reply that “two cats had been fighting in the room; that
it was found impossible to separate them, and they fought so
desperately that they had devoured each other up, with the exception
of their two tails.”