Tobermory Explained?

So the last line, German irregular verbs. Well this line comes right after we learn that Appin was killed by an elephant who was being, according to the newspaper, bothered by a man.(Appin) I thought that there was a distinct parallel between Appin and Tobermory. Appin was directly characterized as having cleverness and Tobermory was definitely clever. So the people, just as they only saw Appin as entertainment and not a person, that's how they saw the cat.