The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-10-11
A FIGHT FOR LIFE WITH RATS.
An Army of Rats Attacking n signal SER
vice Officer and His Wifc-COnquering
the Rodents by Observation-Disclosures Fate
of Child.

An Army of Rats Attacking n signal Ser
vice Officer and His Wife-COnquering
the Rodents by yElectricity-Tcrrible Fate
of n Child.
The vast number of rats inhabiting
the rocky crevices and cavernous passa-
ges at the summit of Pixies Peak, in Col
orado, have recently become formidable
and dangerous. These animals are known
to feed upon saccharine gum that per-
colates through the pores of the rocks,
apparently upheaved by that volcanic
action which, at irregular intervals of
few days, gives to the mountain crest
that vibratory motion which has been
detected by the instruments used in the
Office of the United States signal station.
Since the establishment of the govern
ment signal station on the summit of the
Peak, at an altitude of nearly $4,000
feet, these animals have acquired vora-
cious appetite for raw and uncooked
meat, the scent of which seems to impart
to them ferocity rivaling the starved
Siberian wolf. The most singular trait
in the character of these animals is, they
are never to be seen in the daytime.
When the moon pours down her queenly
light upon the summit they may be seen
in countless numbers, hopping around
among the rocky boulders that crown
this barren waste and during the warm
summer months they may be seen SWIM
ming and sporting in the waters of the
lake, a short distance below the crest
of the Peak, and of dark, cloudy night
their trail in the water exhibits a glow
ing, sparkling light giving to the waters
of the lake a Pickering silvery appear
ance. A few days since Mr.. John II.
O'Keef. one of the government opera
tors at the signal station, returned to his
post from Colorado Springs, taking with
him quarter of beef It being late in
the afternoon, his colleague, Mr. Hobbs,
Immediately left with the pack animal
for the Springs. Soon after dark, while
Mr.. O'Keef was engaged in the Office
forwarding night dispatches to Washing
ton, he was startled by a loud scream
from Mrs. O'Keef, who had retired for
the night in an adjoining bedroom, and
who came rushing into the Office scream
ing, "The rats the rats p Mr. O'Keef,
with great presence of mind, Immediate
ly girdled his wife ith scroll of zinc
plating, such as had been used in roofing
the station, which prevented the animals
from climbing upon her person and,
although his own person was almost
literally covered with them, he succeeded
in incasing his legs each in Johns of
stove-pipe, when he commenced fierce
and desperate struggle for the preserva-
ton of his life, with a heavy war-club
preserved at the station, among other
Indian relics captured at the battle of
Sand Greek. Notwithstanding hundreds
were destroyed on every side, still they
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 five mill
utes, which seemed to only sharpen their
appetites for an attack upon Mr.. O'Keef,
whose hands, face and neck were terribly
lacerated. In the midst of the warfare
Mrs. O'Keef managed to reach coil of
electric wire hanging near the battery
and, being a mountain girl familiar with
the throwing of the lariat, she hurled it
through the air, causing it to encircle
her husband, and spring out from its
loosened fastenings, making innumera-
BILE spiral ways, along which she poured
the electric fluid from the heavily charged
battery. In an instant thereon was all
ablaze with electric light, and whenever
the rats came in contact with the wire
they were hurled to an almost instant
death. The appearance of daylight, made
such by the coruscation of the heavily
charged wire, caused them to take
refuge among the crevices aud caverns
of the mountain, by way of the bedroom
window. through which they had forced
their way. But the saddest part of this
night attack upon the Peak is the des-
troying of their infant child. which Mrs.
O'Keef thought she had made secure by
a heavy covering of bed clothing but
the rats had found their way to the in
FAINT (only two months old), and had left
nothing of it but the peeled and num-
bled skull. Drs. Thorn and Anderson
thought at first that the left arm of Ser
geant OKeef would have to be amputa-
ted, but succeeded in saving it.