The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1883-06-02
4 RAr-CArCuER ON RATS AND THEIR
HABITS.

sI've got as high 800 for taking two =
rats from ship" said the rat-catcher.
sDock rats live at the piers in colonies
of from 500 to 1000. Like bad tenants
they leave their old habitations for d
new about once a month. On the 1st h
of May they will move by thousands. I
Constantly uneasy, they so around Il
from dock to dock, seeking where the q
lowest tide is. They have navy. It
is made up of floating pieces Of wood q
and floating chips. They are all pirates
or wreckers. When scraps or slops
are thrown overheard from u ships 8
deck they put out in their craft ana .
seize it.
"Tourists going to Europe board q
ship in two ways. Tho passengers go
up the gang-plank. The rats climb up {
the anchor chain and enter the ship by s
the ane4eS's THss.anm Ssss IN S,,nsey, STU sssn
ar -..., carpet-bag in hand, bid his {
ia goodbye, and then walk up one {
oftke ships cables. Dock rats go to
Flo ppe whenever they feel like II, and
usually make four or five trips year.
They ARE tho third-class passengers.
The fret. class go in the cabin, the
, second in the steerage, the rats in the
. hold. Going over they live on export
ed American tlannels and rosin. Com
ing back their food is imported fruits
!. and delicacies. They do not get Off
= the vessels when it touches Liverpool
: for fear of being left behind. They are
/. able to climb the rigging like old snil-
ors. In wooden ships they sometimes
4 cot through the planks and set tho ves-
y sci leaking.
a uThere are English rats in America,
l. and American rats in England. The
!. lCockney rat is coarser than the Ameri-
l. can and is not generally able to stand
ic up four rounds against and American
q rat. The sbon-ton' New York rats i'm.
b. itate the customs ofthc British rats.
N "Rats mate. In u year newly
20 welded pair of rats will raise an inter
a. esting family of l20 offspring, not
~ counting descendants of the third and
n. fourth generation. This is why at the
a moment pair OF rats set up their
,,e household goods on board ship its
er owners will give n .rat-catcher 500 to
ar serve writ of eiectment on tho prolific
ph rodents, Some vessels keep twenty
3st cats to hunt vermin.
an "The hotels in New York are great
"a ly annoyed with rats, and they infes
nrivatc houses. The Windsor pay
ng 5000 year, the st. Nicholos and
far large number of others 800 each to
Me professional rat catcher, who hunts rat
m. in them twice week tho year round
ers. Some private houses pay $40 a mont
,ses to abe protected from tho vermi
frat Harry Jennings, the king Of the Ne
.nly York rat-catchers, is said to have an
left. come of $4,000 year. The capture
end rats are sold at SIS Il hundred"
ord. uHow do rats reach private houses
,elv sThey go from tho docks six or sew
coil miles through tho sewers, stop opp'
one ite-some house and mine their way
ape. TO its cellar. A banquet at II reslden
the will bring IL whole colony of then
out We can always teii Whou 'hora 10
,nlv great supper at the Union Leag
,reS. Club by the movement of the rats
on ward the upper part OF the city.
,o of ssThere arc about dozen kinds
rats. The common rat is brin,
hill. gray. There are white and black ra
pha- white and gray, and pure white OF
eve. with pink eyes. have heard ]
fhe catchers tell of pink ones with viii
,om. ewes. / never saw one. once caui
n IL a rat with but two feet. The oil
I ton rats had held him in museum.
veen ordinary rat weighs one pound.
vhile largest one l ever saw weighed
,ctric pounds and six ounces, and was rs
35O as half.grown cat"
!. the uWhat is the best time ever made
les as a terrier in a pit ?"
mary GA little black and tan, weighing
races pounds, about the beginning OF Ma
fast in little place not n hundred IN
Be- from New York, killed 100 rats IN
order minutes and % seconds. That IL
r;t of fastest time ever made in New
/. Mr.. Fosters fox terrier, Pigeon, we
ing 6 pounds, polish OFF ten rats il
seconds, which is the best time OF
cord in Europe or America. In tn
the rats sometimes show fight to
dog, | have seen terrier Gov
with rats so that you couldn't 81
hair on his body. They bite the
so severely sometimes that nc ~ CT
and. ed with blood. The noble sport,
sorry to say, is declining; In its ri
tlays ] have seen $4,000 or $4,000 on
hands around tho cpit in few minn
ee,, "What is the best time ever
by a rat-catchcr?'
uPrince Jennings once picked
rat n minute for five hours ut st'
speak, That's the best time j know Of"
and. "Are rat catchers ever attack'
bitten 2"
...t