Litchfield enquirer., 1857-03-12
Rat catohers of San Francisco.

It has been truly said that one half of the inhabitants of all large cities know not how the other half live. This fact will apply to San Francisco as fercibly as to any others Our population is q heterogeneous one,, com posed of the representatives of every nation nn tho habitab1e globe-men of every trade, profession and calling among us, known to the civilized world--and all striving with unabe< tod c,.ergy ard enterprise to foreresch his neighbor in the search after wealth. But of all resorts to which human ingenuity is ap- piled whereby to make on honest livelihood, that cf the rat-catchers seems to be the. most singular.
 There exists among us numerous class of persons whose only vocation consists in catch ing rats and preparing their skins for expor- tation. This business is mostly confined to Q few Frenchmen, who have in their employ number of Chinamen we'll skilled in the art. ] Night. after night they spread death and de-
 struction among the inndmcrable swarms of these pests that infcgt our thoroughfares. 1 While the greater portion of our population
 are asleep ":John Chinaman," like the tkiGo- ! xisrs or rsE,pickers (another distinct class of persons we have in cur midst, is wide awake 1 and pursuing his calling. He is what might te called professional "ratter,' and is as
 we'll versed as Scotch terrier in the most ap- proved method of discovering and of taking them.
 1he whsrves along the water front Of the
 city are nightly freouented by them, but in
 most cases they seek the isolated places in the
 outskirts of the city, where the rats fatten on
 the garbage thrown from the slatghtefhouses, i to set their traps. These traps are square
 ltxcs about two feet long, and of the same
 width, and some eighteen inches deep the top
 and bottom constructed of wood and the sides wire net Each one has several openings on the. sides, with the wire inverted, so that when 1 rat enters it it is almost impossible for him to make his escape by the way he eahe in Each
 Chnaman is provided with two of these traps. When about starting out he baits them, and then selects suitable place to set them. Af- ter having done this, he rctires a short dis tance to watch his game. If the bai t takes we'll he docs not wait long before the traps are full. If game is not plenty, he moves on to some other locality, and repeats the same operation. a+.> In this manner he proceeds until he has
 made good "haul;s when he retraees his steps homewards, and deposits his traps in receptacle provided for the purpose This place usually consists of a drysgoeds box, with aperturcs here and there covered with wire.
 The rats are placed ih it, and in the daytime are suffocated by means of charcoal Each Chinaman with any kind of good luck, very often succeeds in taking from one to two hun ,lrcd rats night. These are sold to the par
 tics who employ them; ssho derive conside.
 rable profit from the business. The skifis are
 dried and tied up in small packages of fifty
 each, ready for cHpoftation: They arc, sent to
 Paris, and there manufactured into what are
 called kid gloves, and returned to us as Al
 exandre's best" which may be seen displayed 1 in the windows of ort farcy dry-goods stores. Our Chinese residents readily adapt them
 selves to any kind of industry, however disa-
 grecable, that promises reward for their. la
 Dor. The catching of rats cannot be so re-
 volting to them as might be expected, as it is
 said the animal, when cooked and served up
 in the Celestial style, forms an important item
 in their cuisins-Sem Francisco Herald.