The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-06-18
THE WAR OF THE RATS
White Rodents Trained to Exter-
inmate Their Brown Brothers.
Dogs and Fcrrets Gave Battle to the
Pests, but the Japanese Rats
Proved Godsend to
0Lucky" Baldwin.

"Lucly" Baldwin had rats in his gar
ret-that is to say in the garret Of his
big hotel, says the San Francisco Ex-
aminer. Large brown rats they were,
and il-bred, too, inasmuch rs they
didn't know better than TO wander
into rooms occupied by ladies at un-
seasonable hours of the night. Some
times they would intrude upon pri-
vate dining party, and cause a lively
scattering among the participants.
They had possession Of the basement as
well as the garret. and made them
selves at home on each of the five
floors. Baldwin was in despair. His
cronies were won't to shout "Ratsl'' just
for the fun Of seeing him jump. Finally
he sent east for couple of blooded
Scotch terriers, with pedigrees as long
rs one Of Blair's speeches. They were
installed in the basement where the ed
ibles are kept At the end Of the first
day old Silas, the colored charge
d'affaires Of the culinary department,
said lone hundred and sixty-four" as
the carcass of the last dead rat dropped
into an ash barrel. The dogs killed
week. Then the rats moved from the
basement to the other parts of the ho-
tel It was impossible to keep
dogs all over the house, so Baldwin
bought two ferrets and hired man to
take charge of them. The long, slender
little animals did great service. Fer
rets are the natural enemies Of rats and
can follow them into any hole, no mat
ter how small. The ferret's method of
killing his rat is to fight until he gets
hold on the rats throat, and then
dead rat. There Is an unpleasant
feature about It, though. After
killing his rat the ferret sucks the body
dry of blood and leaves it in the hole.
The odor became 50 unbearable that
Baldwin was forced to Danish the fer
rets. Frequently the ferrets became SO
gorged with blood that they found diff
Guilty in emerging from holes which
they entered with comparative ease.
After the ferrets left the hotel the rats
commenced to multiply again. A bril-
liant genius who inhabits the basement
had an idea. White rats were what he
thought Of. Baldwin sent to 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 a large cage, fed them well and
made them understand that the cage
was their home, When he had made
friends with all Of them he turned
them loose. The brown rats COM
menced to decrease in numbers at
q surprising rate. The chaps from jap
an ''bossed tho roost," as they do not
I say in Paree. They chased the brown
rats to their holes, fought them. killed
them and dragged tho bodies out for
the genius to gaze upon. He had
trained them to do that, and the result
was that no dead rats were left in tho
holes.
Sometimes tho white rats would be
badly lacerated, but their courage was
Of the right sort, and they never failed
to attack brown rat on sight.
Another good feature of the white rate
was that, being well fed, they never.
stole food or tried to get away. They
were at liberty to roam at will 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 tho building alto
gether. Now you couldn't find brown
rat in the hotel II you searched week.
One or two Of the white rats took wives
from among the brown rats, and their
progeny had spots like coach dogs and
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 he talks Of starting
white rat farm on his ranch near Los
Angeles.