New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-06-11
A Rat Story Of Pixies Peak.

The number of rats inhabiting the rocky
creyices and csvernOus passages at the sum-
NIT of Pixies Peak. says correspondent of
the Pueblo Chieftain, have recently become
formidable and dangerous. These animals
are known to feed upon . saccharine gum
that percolates through the pores OF tho
rocke, apparently upheaved by some vol
canic action. Since the establishment of
the government signal station on the sum-
nit of the Peak, at an altitude OF nearly
$1,000 feet, these animals have acquired .
voracious appetite for raw and uncOOked
them fer0city rivaling the 6erceness of the
starved Siberian wolf. The most singular
trait in the character of these animals il that
they are never seen in the daytime. When
the moon pours down her queenly light
upon the summit they may be seen in
countless numbers troOping around among
the rocky powders that crown the barren
waste, and during the warm summer
months they may be seen swimming and
sporting in the waters of the lake, q short
distance below the Peak, and Of . dark,
cloudy night their trail in the water is
marked by sparkling light, giving the Wa
ters of the lake . bright and silvery ap-
pearance. A few days since Mr.. John +.
O'Keefe, one of the government operators
at the signal station upon the Peak, return
ed to his post, taking with him upon pack
animal quarter of beef. 1t being late in
the afternoon, his colleague, Mr.. Hobbs, i'm
mediately left with the pack animal for the
Springs Soon after dark, while Mr.. O'Keefe
was engaged in the Office forwarding night
dispatches to Denver and Washington,
from Mrs. O'Keefe, who had retired i'f fer
the night to an adjoining bedroom, and
who come rushing into the Office, scream
ing, 1.-THE rats! the rats" Mr.. OKeefe,
with great presence of mind, Immediately
drew around his swife ecroll link plating,
which prevented the animals from climbing
upon her person, and although his own per-
son was almost literally covered with them,
he eucceeded in encasing both Of his legs
each in joint of stovepipe, when he COM
menced fierce and desperate struggle for
the preservation of life, being armed with
q heavy cane. Hundreds were destroyed
on every side, while they still seemed to
pour with increasing numbers from the
bedroom, the door of which had been left
open. The entire quarter of beef was
eaten in less than Eve minutes, which
seemed to only sharpen their appetite for
an attack upon Mr.. O'Keefe, whose hands,
face ana neck we're terribly lacerated. In
the midst of the warfare Mrs. O'Keefe man
aged to reach the office, from which she
threw coil of electric wire over her hus-
band that sprang outward and spread itself
over the room, then, grasping the valve in
UuO VoGeOAyS oAO POuAOtA all At0 L0TElDl0
power upon the wire. In an instant the
room was all ablazs with electric light, and
hundreds we're killed by the shock, when
the sudden appearance OF daylight. made
such bv the c0ruscation of tbs heavily
charged wire, caused them to take refuge
among the crevices and caverne of the
mountain, by way of the bedroom window,
through which they had forced their way.
But the eaddest part of this night adventure
upon the Peak is the destroying of their in
FAINT child, which Mrs. O'Keefe thought she
had made secure by q heavy covering of
bed clothing. But the rats had found their
way to the infant, only two months old,
and left nothing of it but the peeled and
naked skull. Drs. Horn and Anderson have
just returned to Colorado Springs from the
Peak. 1t was thought at first that the left
arm of Sergeant O'Keefe would have to be
amputated. but they now believe it can be
Ne,us.