Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-03-15
BosToN's PIED PIPER.
A Queer Man Who Makes n Bus,ness -
Hunting for Dead Rats.


Hunting for Dead Rats.
This town has sort of Pied Piper OF
its own, who makes business OF lur-
ing from dark hiding places tho preda-
tory rat 1t is his professional task,
however, to operate. not upon live
rodents. but upon dead ones.
Now. it may be admitted that al
though a living rat is not pleasant
beast to tackle, the same animal after
its demise, and lacking proper sep
ulture, Is far more disagreeable. Thus
1t must be considered that the function
of the post-mortem Pied Piper is one OF
extra difficulty, and its correct per-
Torrance therefore exceptionally credit
able.
AT all events, you would be apt to
think SO If you had dead rat at this
moment peacefully decomposing under
floor or in "A partition wall of your
domicile. There is nothing in all this
world. as you would soon discover. that
smells so horribly 1t fairly discounts
the Mephitis Americana. True. one
rat will only last six weeks before dry
ing up and becoming henceforth in
offensive; but you are likely to con-
clude that. rather than endure it for
such length of time. you would pull
the house down to find it. And there
1t is that the trouble comes in. In most
cases 1t Is nearly impossible to locate
the source OF the stencil. Carpenters
must be hired to tear every thing to
pieces, and not infrequently it costs a
large sum TO remove the nuisance.
Think what u relief it must be, under
such circumstances, to simply send out
for man who makes this kind OF thing
IA regular occupation. and have him
find the rat and take it away for small
ice. Five dollars is the price charged
by Boston's Pied Piper for such SER
vice. 1t is always the same price,
whether it takes him a week or five
minutes. As rule. however, the job
is accomplished very quickly. 1t is u
matter of practice, like any thing else
The mans nose, naturally an acute Or
gan, has been trained TO surprising
degree of constituencies. There are
certain rules. too, by which lie goes
Upon entering n building whittier he is
called to operate he gives few expert
enced shifts here and there. In order to
find out where the smell is most intense
He can not always tell this at once, for
such things are deceptive. But he con-
tinues to prospect, keeping an eye open
as he goes for likely corners. such as
are beneath firep,aces and other warm
spots, which dying rats would be likely
to seek. Finally, having located the
trouble pretty satisfactorily, he bores a
hole with an auger and sniffs at it once
more. If it IL n find 1t only remains to
make bigger opening and take out
the corpse Tho labor is disagreeablc,
bat it pays. 1t is always S. for each
rat found. and sometimes the man will
get three or four together within few
minutes.
Every town should certainly have a
post-mortem Pied-Piper 1t would be
the most profitable to owners of tene-
ments, who are continually suffering
from this cause. II dead rat turns
up in a tiat-house the landlord is at
once sent for and threatened with aban-
donment by his tenants unless he takes
prompt measures to remove the obnoxi-
Gus thing. Sometimes it costs Il round
sum OF money, and IA single rat bill may
eat up two or three months rent Here
is good suggestion for somebody in
your city who has good smelling or
gan and Is looking for gainful employ
ment. Let him turn Pied Piper and
make his everlasting fortune. A ter
rier, by the way, can be trained to
great usefulness as an assistant in such
work. - Boston Cor, San Francisco
Post.