"Wanted. 10,000 bushels of... cats"

A story from the archives of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune, one hundred years ago:

Wanted Oats, He Got Cats

Error of Grain Merchant’s Typewriter Brings Swarms of 5,000 Felines

Neligh, Neb., Jan. 1. – The substitution of a lower case letter “c” for the letter “o” in an advertisement in the Sioux City, Omaha and local newspapers has caused John C. Trothers, a grain merchant here, all kinds of trouble.

Trothers, wishing to replenish his supply of oats, concluded to advertise. Writing his advertisement on a typewriter, he manifolded* it and sent copies to the newspaper as follows:

“Wanted – Delivered on track at Neligh, 10,000 bushels of cats. Will pay highest market price.”

Not noticing the error, he awaited results, which came sooner than he expected. Within a week cats of all kinds and descriptions commenced to arrive, consigned to Trothers. Some were sent prepaid and others collect. They came from the East, the West, the North and the South.

The rest of the story is at the StarTribune; the implications at the end are not happy ones for ailurophiles.

* n.b. - "manifolded" = made multiple copies using carbon paper between sheets.