The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-04-07
A Disgusting Job.

For wager of 5000 William Lewis
tried last night to pick up and place in
a barrel one hundred live rats. The
articles of agreement stipulated that to
win Lewis would have to transfer the
rats from the pit to the barrel in sixty
minutes, and that the work must be
done with bare hands and arms. Lewis
is Philadelphian, and forty years old.
He has had fifteen years experience as
a professional rat-catcher. For five
years he was employed catching wharf
rats in New York for the well-known
dog fancier Harry Jennings. Twice in
New York he won money by picking up
rats within given time. On one occa-
sion he won fifty dollars by pickingup
twenty-five rats in ten minutes. They
were rats he had handled before, and he
did the job without receiving bite.
Fifty men paid one dollar each to see
last nights exhibition in Frankford.
In the center of the room n space eight
feet square was surrounded by tight
board-fence four feet high. The floor
was covered an inch deep with saw
dust. In the center of the pen stood an
empty whisky barrel, the upper head of
which was replaced by piece of can
vas with hole in its center. The rats
were confined in three tin-lined wood
cages which stood in the yard.
While the Judge was trying to borrow
q watch Lewis clambered into the pit.
He wore a sleeveless undershirt, check
pantaloons and brogans. The legs of
his trousers were tied around the ankles
so as to prevent the rats from taking
| refuge therein. His hands and arms
were covered with musk, which he be-
lieves will prevent rats from biting him.
Forty rats were dumped from cage
into the pit. The rats darted wildly
around through the sawdust and made
vain endeavors to scale the fence. Then
they huddled in wriggling mass in one
corner, and the Judge gave Lewis the
word to begin. He moved over to the
pile of rats, and without an instant
hesitation thrust his naked hands and
arms among them. He caught five fat
fellows and dropped them into the bar.
rel. He next picked up three, Their
four, then two, and so on until six min.
utes had expired, when he had placed
twenty-one of the rodents in the barrel
The rats that remained in the pit
were wild, and Lewis was compelled tC
catch them one at a time. The frs
single rat he picked up bit one of his
fingers through the nail to the bone
and hung there. Lewis jerked his hanC
up and sent the vicious rat against the
ceiling. The wounded finger wa
dipped in whisky and the chase was re
sumed. Seven rats were picked up anC
deity tossed into the barrel, and thel
Lewis was bitten twice on the RICH
, arm. He received four more wound
before the fortieth rat was imprisoned
|, in the barrel. Then forty more wer
dumped into the pit Lewis worked
with great agility, and rat after rat wa
, picked up and dropped in the barre
with great rapidity. The fifty-seventl
, rat he attempted to touch sprang in hi
face as he stopped and bit his lower lip
, Without tlinching, he grabbed the ra
and tossed it through the canvas cover
? He lost five minutes stanching the bloo
that flowed from his lip. In picking u
, the other twenty-three rats he was BIZ
{ ten slightly five times. Eighty rats wer
5 in the barrel, and Lewis had only seve
1 minutes to pick up the remaining twer
= ty. The time was too limited, an
8 Lewis gave up the job and got out {
a the pit. - Philadelphia Cor. ChicaS
2 Tribune.