Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-02
A Rat. Catcher Rattl0S Away
About Rats and Their
Habits.
How American Rats and Cock.
ney Rats Exchange Visits.
Decline OF tho Noble Sport of Rat
Killing.

Ca,Cuer, DOCd Tbbs iNe w tue pleTb
In colonies of from 500 to 1000. Like
bad tenants they leave their old hebi.
tations for new once q month. On
tho 1st of May they will move by
Thousands. Constantly uneasy, they
go around from dock to dock seeking
where the lowest tide lie. They have
a navy. 1t is made up of Il ,atlng
pieces of wood and floating chips.
They are oil pirates or wreckers.
When scraps or slops are thrown
overheard from a ships deck they put
out in their Graf and seize it.
Tourists going to Europe board q
ship In two ways. The passengers go
the gang plank. The rats climb up
tho anchor chain and enter the ship by
the anchor post hole. Dan S ingsby,
the great rat catcher, say he has seen
az old rat, carpet bag In hand, bid his
family good bye, and then walk up one
of the ships cables. Dock rats 60 to
Europe whenever they feel like 1t, and
usually make four or five trips a year.
They are the third class passengers.
The first class 60 In the cabin, the
second In the storage, the rats In the
hole. Going owe they live on Ameri.
can hannels and rosin. Coming back
their food Is imported food and delica
oies. They do not get off the vessel
when 1t touches Liverpool for fear of
being left behind. They are able to
climb the rigging like old %sailers. In
wooden ships they sometimes eat
through the planks and set the vessel
leaking.
"There are English rats In America
and American rats In England. The
Cockney rat is coarser than the
American aud is not generally able to
stand up four rounds against an
American rat. The 'bon.ton' New
York rats initiate the customs Of the
British rats.
RATS mate. Ia o year q newly
welded pair of rats will raise an In.
teresting family of 120 offspring, not
counting descendants Of the third and
fourth generation. This Is why at the
moments q pair Of rats set up their
household goods on board q ship It's
owners will giyea rat catcher 500 to
serve a writ of ejectment on the pro
life rodents. Some vessel. keep twenty
cats to hunt vermln.
"The hotels in New York are
greatly annoyed with rats, and they
infest private houses. The Windsor
pays 5000 q year, the st. Nicholas
and a large number of others 800
each to a professional rat. catcher, who
hunts rats In them twice q week the
year round. Some private houses pay
$50 a month to be protected from the
vermin. Harry Jennings, the king
of the New York rat. oatchers, Is said
to have an income of Sc. 900 a year.
The captured rats are sold at SIS a
hundred"
"How do rats reach private houses
"They go from the docks six or
seven miles through the sewers, stop
opposite some house and mine their
way into Its cellar. A bal quet at q
residence will bring a whole colony Of
them. We can always tell when there
is a great supper at the Union League
club by the movement of the rats to
ward the upper part Of the city.
"There are about a dozen kinds O
rats. The common rat Is a brindl,
gray. Tnere are white and black ratr
white and gray, and pure white one
with pink eyes, l have heard ra
catchers tell of pink ones with whit,
eyes l never saw one, l one,
caught a rat with but two fact, TIL
other rats had held him In a museum
An ordinary rat weighs one pound
The largest one 1 ever saw we:ghe,
two pounds and six OUNCES, and was a
big az a half grown cat"
What is the best time ever mad
by a terrier In a pitt"
ga little black and tan, weighin
| eleven pounds, about tho beginning @
March In a place not a hundred mile
from New York, killed 100 rats in l
, minutes and 20 seconds. That is tn
, fastest time ever made in New York
{ Mr.. Fosters fox terrier, Pigeon
weighing six pounds, polished eff tel
/ rats In tfty.eight seconds, which
/ the best time on record In Europe G
a America. In the pit the rats soms
times show fight to the dog. 1 hav
, seen a terrier ooverad with rats 80 thu
a you couldn't see a hair on his body
They bite the dog 30 severely SOM
a times that he is covered with blood
n TIE noble sport, l Am sorry to say,
a declining, In its balmy days I hay
n seen Sc, 900 or Sc. 900 change hans
around the pit In a few minutes"
"What Is the best time ever mad
by a at.cat,hel?'
= Prince Jennings once picked up
= rat q minute for five hours at
stretch. That's the best time 1 kno
Of"
"Are rat catchers aver attacked
d bitten2"
a "Stories of them being killed by ra
have been printed, but they are sens
4 tionsl. When rat catchers are bittu
they..cauterize the wound at onc3. r
seem 10 know thel. and hardly ever t
to hurt them. l have often put a doz
: rats inside my shirt when / had fill
a my bag aud had N other place to p
them"
Ie the rat cRtchers guild ia held
N high repute2'
d Eyes. In England the rat cstche
{. wear belts on which pictures of cats Al
! rsts and dogs are wrought. TIL
ought to do so here They are t
modest"
d SLAVEN'S YOSEMITE COLONC
II Made from the wild flowers of t
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80 1t is the most fragrant of perfum
Manufactured by II. B. Slsven, S
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j. Whitehouse ard Kennard BrC