Bartholomew and the Great Quake: San Francisco 1906

By Dotty Schenk

It was about ten minutes after five a.m. when Bartholomew began to eat his breakfast. Suddenly, his dish began to shake, and then it slid across the room. Bartholomew was frightened and the fur on his back rose as his dish slid away from him.

As Bartholomew tried to get to his dish, he heard a loud roaring noise. In the kitchen, Bartholomew slid around the room. He could not get his feet to work. As he slid past the kitchen table, Mrs. Higgins reached out and grabbed the frightened cat. She pulled him toward her, and they both lay under the table. It seemed liked eternity as the shaking became much stronger. The whole house was moving up and down, and everyone was afraid it would collapse on them.

 

Follow Bartholomew, a large orange tabby cat from his feral birth in Cow Hollow to being adopted by a wealthy family.

 

He experiences the terrible earthquake in San Francisco on April 18, 1906. San Francisco is in ruins and Bartholomew travels into the demolished downtown area of the city. Experience the sights he sees as he wanders through the ruins.

 

After his journey, he returns home to find the father of the family busy meeting with city officials as they begin the plans for rebuilding this great and beautiful city by the San Francisco Bay.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bedazzled Ink Publishing
• Release date: Oct 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215107676

Book preview

Other Books by Dotty Schenk

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Fire in the Wine Country

Mishka’s Dream: A Christmas Story

Shadow the Sandhill Crane

CCAT of Napa/Sonoma rescue receives a donation from the sale of each copy of Bartholomew. CCAT rescues cats and places them mainly at wineries to control rodents.

For more information:

Website: Calicat.org

e-mail: [e-mail]

Calistoga Cat Action Team Napa/Sonoma

P.O. Box 952

Calistoga, California 94515

© 2022 Dotty Schenk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction mixed with historical facts.

Ist edition published 2014 by Dotty Schenk

978-1-949290-97-4 paperback

Cover Design

by

Dotty Schenk

1st Reprint Edition

Bink Books

a division of

Bedazzled Ink Publishing, LLC

Fairfield, California

http://www.bedazzledink.com

PART I

Bartholomew’s Early Life

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Bartholomew’s story begins in the spring of 1905. He was an orange tabby cat who was born in a vacant lot in an area of San Francisco called Cow Hollow. Cow Hollow is a section of the city that was mainly dairy farms in the late 1800s. As the city grew, the dairy farms left, and people began building houses on the land. By the early 1900s many people moved here. They kept the name of Cow Hollow for that part of the city.

Bartholomew’s mother and litter mates were feral cats. They did not have a home and lived off the food they could catch or find. The cats avoided humans, and they went hunting every day. Their favorite pastimes were chasing mice and climbing into garbage cans to look for food scraps. They were wild and happy. Bartholomew spent the first four months of his life roaming the area with his littermates and other feral cats. They loved to be able to run free. The days were filled with hunting and play. Cats of all sizes and colors lived in the feral colony.

But trouble was brewing as people living in the Hollow were unhappy with all the feral cats. The cats dug up their flower gardens and got into the garbage cans. They would tip the cans over, and all the contents would come out. The cats would scatter the scraps around the streets and gardens.

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Finally, the people got together and held a meeting to decide what to do. They really did not want to hurt the cats, but they were tired of cleaning up after their evening adventures. At the end of the meeting, they decided to set out traps and catch the cats.

The neighbors got the traps and placed them around their houses. They baited the traps with big juicy fish. One evening as Bartholomew was out hunting, he saw this big fish just lying on the ground. He thought, How lucky I am to see this and no one else is around. This will make a wonderful meal just for me. He approached the fish, and as he snatched it up he heard a strange noise. He quickly turned around and saw that he was trapped in a large wire box.

He became very scared and began to meow loudly. He cried out for a long time, but no one came to help him. He was trapped in this terrible thing and all alone. He thought about his mother and littermates and all his other cat friends. Where were they? What has happened? He spent the night trying to get out of this box, but he could not. Finally he settled down and fell asleep.

The next morning as the sun rose over the city, a man came to check out the trap. He was pleased to see that he had caught a cat. As he approached the cage the cat woke up. He arched his back, hissed and spit at the man. He tried to reach out to claw him, but he was too small. His little paws did not reach very far. The man stepped back and began to speak very softly to the frightened little animal. Soon the man approached the cage again. This time he was able to pick it up, and he carefully carried the cage to a horse-drawn wagon. He gently placed the cage in the wagon, and then he climbed into the driver’s seat. He took the reins and signaled to the horse to start moving. The little cat was bewildered, frightened and, worst of all, alone. He was so scared he could hardly move. He thought, Will my friends look for me? Will they miss me? What is happening to me?

The wagon began to move slowly down the cobblestone street. The little cat cowered in the corner of the cage. The horse led the