West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1891-08-06
THE WAR OF THE RATS
white Rodents Trained TO Extcr-
inmate Thor Brown BrcthsrD.
DOGS and rcrrcta Cavo hattie 20 the
Pests. but the Japanese Rats
Proved Codsond e.
LUCKY" HatIssin.


Lucky" Baldwin had rats In his gar
rct--that is 60 say In the garrett of his
big hotel, Gays the San Francisco Ex-
amincr Large brown rats they were,
and ill-bred, too. innsmuch as they
didn't know better than 70 wander
into rooms occupied by ladies at IN
scasonnble hours 81 the night. Some
times they would intrudc upon n pri.
vatc dining party. and cause a lively
scattering among the participants
They had possession of the basement as
well as the garnet, and rnade them
Goors. baldwin was in despair. Ills
cronics were wont 20 shout "Ratsr Just
for the fun Of seeing him jump. Finally
he sent cast for n couple OF bloodcd
Scotch terriers, with pedigrces as long
as one OF Blair's speeches. They were
installed ia tho basement whore the cd
ibles are kept At the end OF the first
day old Silas, tho colorcd charge
d'offaires OF the culinary department,
said ''one hundred and siSty-four" as
the carcass of the last dead rat dropped
into an .nsh barrel. The dogs l.illcd
then at the rate of hundred day for
n week. Then tho rats moved from the
basement 10 the other parts of the ho-
tel. 1t was impossible 70 keep
dogs all over the house, so Baldwin
bought two ferrets and hired a man TO
take charge of them. The long, slender
little animals did great service. Fer
rets are the natural enemies Of rats end
can follow them into any hole, no mat
ter how small. The ferret's method of
killing his rat is TO fight until he gcts a
hold on the rats throat, and thcn-
dead rat There is an unpleasant
feature about Il, though. After
killing his rat the ferret sucks the body
dry OF blood aud leaves IL I'm the hole.
The odor became so unbcarable that
Baldwin was forced 20 Danish the fer
rcts. Frequently the fcrrcts became go
gorged with blood that they found Diff
Guilty in cr1ergirg from holes which
they entered with comparative case
After the fcrrcts left the hotel the rats
commenced 20 multiply again. a bril-
liant genius who inhabits the basement
had an idea. White rats were what he
thought of. Baldwin sent % japan
and imported nine Of them. They were
in shape the same as an ordinary brown
rat, but they were much larger and
pure white in color, and they had pink
eyes. The genius IN the basement
knew how TO handle them. He put
them in large cage. fed them well and
made them understand that tho cage
was their homo. When lie had made
friends with ell OF them he Turned
them Loose. The brown rats com
ncnccd TO decrease in numbers at
a surprising rate. Tic chaps from Jap
an "bosscd the rooJt," Us they do not
say in parcc. They chased The brown
rats TO their holes, fought them, killed
them and dragged tho bodies ont FOR
the genius to gaze upon. lie had
trained them TO do that. and the result
was that no dead rats were left in the
holes.
Sometimes the white rats would be
badly laceratcd, but their courage was
Of the right sort, and they never failed
10 attack brown rat on sight
Another good feature Of the white rats
was that, being well fed, they mover
stole food or tried to got away. They
were at liberty TO roam It win over the
entire building. Being docile, not in
the least timid and pretty creatures, the
ladies and children in the hotel made
playthings OF them. From floor To floor
they pursued the brown rats. and final
ly drove them from the building alto
gcther Now you couldn't find brown
rat in the hotel If you searched week
One or two Of the white rats took wives
from among the brown rats, and their
progeny had spots like coach doris end
pink eyes But the female white rats
made war on their brown sisters and
forced them away. Baldwin's brow is
free from care, and nc talks OF etarting
white rat farm on his ranch near Los
Angeles