Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-06-30
IL, Raft atc,icr.

4
One of the most expert rat-catC hers in
New York is i little man with Il thought
full face
81 constantly think about 'em. sir"
he says, land lose no opportunity f'r II
lindin' ont their cLriouS WAYS, which i
quite remarkable, do Il, are You, sir "
care there many in Your line hereY'
d" There is many, sir. which has the
audacity to call Themselves ral-ca'chrrS,
which they Amt, notwithstanding. |
should say there is about ten of 'em."
He invited the reporter Ia go with
him on one of his expeditions against
HIS enemy, the rat, and 4 few NIGHTS
later they me. nj Il stable in West For
tieth street. The rat catcher wore :.
pair of light cloth slippers, heavy ,rou-
SerS, flannel shirt and vest. lie hal Il
kit OF tools with him, and ut ab ,ut
| eleven O'Clock he went To work. First
ne went carefully arG.ind the edrcS of
the llo,r and learned every rat-hole
There were number; some ut the
edges of the partitions between the
| stalls. Others at the wa>h>tand and Il
number in the harness closet. The rats
had ruined valuable harness. Many
| efforts had been made to eXterminatC
them, but without success.
g. guess III get 'em out, sir. Just
cleared 2l1 rats ont of Il private resi-
| dence on Tenth avenue in three nights"
| he said
He then took y number of little wire
doors out of his bag. They were about
four inches Sqnare. One Of thes,
was screwed over each rat hoo ut m
angle of forty-iive degrees, 50 TINT the
rat could easily raise il on coming out
of the hole, hut could not get baci, into
the hole again after il had dropped in
place. When every hole had been thus
Covered the reporter retired to the top
shelf of long step Ladder and sm Dkcd
while the rat-catcher turned down the
lights and cleared the stable of all the
small objects that could he readily piled
IN the carriages or on the shelves.
care you sure the rats will come
out?"
"Oh, yes, sir. They comes out every
night. Some men profeSsin' t. call
themselves professionals claims that
they has poison tina. will make rat
come out o. their holes an de. but it
can't be done. They claims, also, -
how they can charm rats; more lies,
assure you. Phosphorus poison cause.
most horrid thirst, an the rats come,
ont of their holes an drinks, an then
goes back an dies. Thea there's Il
pretty howto-do, an whole floors must
come up ut great expense"
He XV1s noyiptr ahntyt in n mos,
stealthy manner, now trying one little
gate and now another. A LARGE bar of
coarse material, with y string with which
to close the opening, hung on 4 harness
peg, and he had Sprinkled IL little pow
der down several of the holes, which
was designed to make the rats thirsty
and cause them to come ont for water
He lighted stub pipe and pcrchcd HIM
self on the bottom of the step-lad,!rr,
with his chin in one hand, while he
slowly opened and closed pair of
tongs, nearly two feet long with nat
blades.
Everything was quiet for few MN
nteS, and there was Il slight scratching
at one of the little doors. and n mon
strouS rat, a fat as IN alderman, slowly
came out. The door dropped to be-
hind him; he turned quickly, tried to
get back, and ran squealin% along the
wall.
He's 4 good Onc," remarked the
little man in Il whisper, going out into
the middle of the room. laying his pipe
on the step, and turning ~ the gas.
''l'll tell you what Iii do; I'll catch this
one in my hands"
He began to squeak through his teeth,
making Il noise like the >,I,ir,tking If a
rat, and slowly approached the fat in
truder. The rat backed into Il corner
and stood with his little eyes cleaning
and tail swiShing rapidly from side 10
-ide. The rat catcher slowly drew
closer until the rat suddenly shot off
along the wall. In an instant the little
man had sprung forward with bound
that was entirely reckless, and went,
head first, for the rat Both hi> hands
wer" out>tretrhed, and he pinned it To
the floor with force that mad. il s.iural
The bound was like tina. which a cat
would make.