Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-03-10
RATS In THE sAvDUST.
One Hundred Brave Rodents Meet
Two Ferrets-
Tsa Nfaarss to . ss~ fork klak kajosed
~ All kxesPf the ksts-Hos the
ferress Gst in Their aork-
What They Live On.


Afoond = sA~dQst-cofSrSd 9-t IN 8 TUNE
tlsdosn house % the East Side Sat last
night . half hundred Hlen, who CARED
through the smoke Of cigars aud H.
trimmed lamps al two little animals that
the pit contained. Each one Was about .
foos In length. Tawpy hair, spotted here
snd there with ~ hite AMI black, covered
thslr Int G bodies Now hating and
scsating the air with their pointed maz-
sles. and CHANGING around out OF their lit
tle red eyes, again running around, while
their ta,S, disproportionstsiy large,
switched the air. The creatures seemed
as impatient as the men about them for
the ssanoe 10 begin They were fsrrets,
natural exterminators of rats. whose in
stinets had been sharpened by constant
practice. Their owner had confidently
backed them 10 kill hundred rats ia ten
minutes
An individual with a broken nose, whose
one eye was as sharp as the ferrets', was
chosen time keeper. He seated himself by
the pits edge just as another man ad-
vancsd toward him carrying a big iron
cage by its handle. II was filled-packed
with rats. Not every day rats, b big
gray fellows brought up in granaries or
along the wharfs. They seemed to know
their danger; they struggled and fought
among themselves, traInpling and biting
at each other as they sought from one side
of the cage 10 the other for some door. 10
escape.
The sports around admired them, and
the betting that had been ali in favor OF
the ferrets swung around TO even ON the
HafS ..A. I'M Nn 4
would not do to talk too loud; Mr. Bergh's
agents or the police might overhear, and
then the fun would he lost
The Cyclops with the watch called
"Time" The man with the cage swung
ono Of its sides ON a hinge and dumped
struggling mass of gray black hair and
swapping jaws and long tails and black
feet into the pit. Like two fellow flashes
the ferrets were among them. Crunch,
erunchv went their teeth. Two rats lay
dead The rest scurried wildly around,
jumping over one another, dashing them
selves against the pits sides, leaping here
and darting there. All the while the fer
rets attended strictly to business.
Five minutes passed and seventy rats
had been killed, nearly all by exactly the
cord just behind the head. The tawny
ha.r of the ferrets was dyed red with
their own blood and their victims. Some
of the rats fought viciously and bit deep
ly Soon only ten rats were left, and but
eight minutes had gone.
''I'll bet hun. TO fifty" said one of the
delighted spectators waving a bunch of
gresnbacks, ''that the ferrets do 'em in a
half miuute."
No one took the bet. II he had he
would have lost
Eight minutes and twenty eight Sec
onds," declared Cyclops, as the last rat
fell.
While the owner picked up his wounded
pets and tenderly washed their wounds in
tepid water, the other sports ranged them
selves along the nearest bar and spent
their winnings and forgot their losses ~
East Side whisky.
Talk about your Rough on Rats" ad-
miringly said the owner TO a Journal re
porter who remained to talk TO him; ''fer-
rets is the roughest things on rats knows
on. Pve trained those two 'uns TO fight,
but there's an old chap named IsaacseE
down on Fulton street who has his trained
to clean rats out of all sorts of places.
You see there's nothing on earth rat
fears so much as a ferret. AS soon as one
comes into house the rats leave quicker
than the Tammany fellers are leaving the
old wigwam. If they don't leave the fer.
rets can walk right into their nests and
wherever they breed. A ferret can 20
wherever a rat can"
"What do you feed them on.- asked the
reporter, innocently.
"Aint just told you? Feed 'em on rats.
When they've eaten the rats, give 'em raw
moat, bread and milk, anything but salt
beef