Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-06-10
1T PLAYS A PROMINENT PART
IN THE COAL REGIONS.
a Big Strike Settled by the Rodents
IA Fierce and Hungry Horde
some Miners Never
Kill Them.
mine rat" said former
resident of Luzerne, Penn,
IN a Maui Enrl- GU, NO.,

everything Is lovely. They insist upon
certain rights which the miners recog.
nize and submit TO without murmur.
1t is only when mine becomes idle and
remains so for any length of time that
the rats and the outside world antaeon-
Ize one another. Even then the miners
respect for the mine yat will permit him
to take measures against it ony so far
as 1t is necessary to preserve himself, his
family and his property.
"Miners' strikes have been brought to
settlement more than once through the
persistent efforts of mine rats. Iremem-
Der one strike in particular that the rats
forced to an end. This strike was
particularly stubborn one. Both miners
and operators refused to bulge one
particle from the stand each had taken.
The bosses declared that gross should
grow about the entrance to the mine be-
fore they would consent to the demands
OF the men, and the men sworc they
would cut and cat that grass, if they had
nothing else to eat. rather than yield q
single point to the bosses.
1.-The strike lasted so long that the
males were taken from the mine and
turned out to pasture, and when that is
done during coal mine strike it is GER
tain indication that there is to be 4 long
cessation of operations in that mine
That was the signal for the rats to take
hand in the difficulty. Miners and their
families may starve for principle if they
choose, but the mine rat proposes TO
live, just the same, and, if the miners
abondon him and cut off his supplies of
mule feed, his chances of purloining or
sharing in the miners lunches or eating
mule itself now and then, he will have
to come to the surface and look about
him. That is what the rats in this par
ticular mine did when they got tired of
waiting for operations to resume. The
mine was big one, and its rat popula-
ton immense. The rats left the mine
and literally took possession of its con-
tiguous village. They quartered them
selves in and about the miners shanties,
drove away the cats and dogs, and often
made it unsafe for the goats. They lived
on the none too plentiful supplies the
miners possessed and became swarming
terror.
"The strike continued and the sup
plies of the strikers gradually became en-
hausted. Miners Of neighboring collier
les, who were not affected by the strike
came to the relief of their Impoverished
brethren. They sent two-horse wagon
load OF provisions to them. A commits
tee took the supplies in charge and
stored them in Il building from which
they were to DC distributed according to
the necessities of the strikers.
1.-The very first night of their arrival
the storehouse was raided by nine rats
and everything devoured or carried away.
Another wagon load was forwarded by
sympathizing fellow miners, and guard
set upon the goods. Hundreds of the big,
fierce. hungry mine rats charged the guard
ut night, drove him away, aud the sec.
ond supply of provisions disappeared
before them. -Four times were the strik-
ing miners revictualled in this way, and
four times the mine rats captured the
stores. This combination of the mine
rats with the operators was more than
the strikers could hold out against, and
they finally went to work on the best
terms they could obtain, absolutely
beaten by the determined horde OF mine
rats.
sit is curious fact that if mine is
abandoned by the workmen either on
strike or because of lack of work, the
rats will follow them to their homes in
varlably if the mine lies idle for any
length OF time, but if mine has to be
abandoned because of accidents, such as
fall of roof, gas explosions, or fire, the
the rats will seek other mines in the
neighborhood where work is goin on.
Then there is trouble and plenty of il.
"The rats already inhabitng that
mine object 10 the horde of newcomers.
and regular pitched battles ensue. These
continue for two or three days. Then
the situation seems to be accepted by the
home rats, and the miners nave to take
it. The combined armies of rats over
run the mine, and, the regular means of
sustenance not being sufficient for the
increased demand, the rats become so
bold and persistent that not even the
mules are safe when left by themselves.
have often heard miners say that on &C.
casions of this kind it was a common
thing to find the stable floors covered
with hundreds of rats that had been
seemed to be n passion with the rats to
gnaw the fetlocks of the mules. and they
often succeed in eating them entirely
away, despite the frantic kicking and
tramping of the animals and the scores
of their own members that were crushed
beneath their feet.
SIN one mine, u few years ago, mat
tiers became SO desperate from the enor
nous increase of rats, owing to the cav
ing in of neigboring mine, that the
miners had to take desperate measures or
surrender the mine to the invaders. 1t
was impossible to keep enough feed on
hand for the needs of the mules, and the
poor beasts grew so thin that they could
scarcely do their work. Even the miners
soap, lamp oil, and other supplies used
in their work were devoured by the army
of rats that overran the chambers.
The persistent animals would pnaw
through the tool boxes in incredibly
biief time end empty them in twir-