The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-12-19
RAT CATCHER BILL.
AN ODD NEW YORK CHARACTER
TALKS OF HIS PROFESSION.

@S1@N 1ANheN-
p~horically s~Peabing-In the Coed ola
Days Before the s. n. q. A-The Pro-
fessOr Tells Something of HIS Methods.
There are but six professional rat
ratchers in New York city, and only
TWO of these have regular places of bust
ness. The profession has gone to the
dogs. This statement, while used as o
metaphor, is also a paradox. As o mat
ter of fact, the business has not gone to
the dogs, but simply declined because
the state laws against rat batting are
very severe and are rigidly enforced by
the officers of the s.. p. G. A.
In the good old days. there was
money in rat catching. The professor"
armed with his lantern and tongs and
accompanied by a humble apprentice
to ''hold the bag, " would sally forth
and make an arrangement with some
restaurant or stable proprietor to relieve
the premises of a portion of its popula-
ton of rodents at SO much per rat, gen.
orally 80 cents per-" An hour later
these same rats would figure in some
Center street or Bowery pit as objects
Of the prowess of some fancy black and
tan or rough haired terrier, the admir-
ing owner of it cheerfully paying %
cents each, or FIVE for 81, for them.
William A. Heitler, who claims to
be 'the original Bill the Rat Catcher"
= title gained in Is years service with
Harry Jennings, whose memory il kept
green among 1.-THE fancy" said, in dis
cussing the decadence of his profession:
1.-The business isn't what it used to
be. Then we made our terms and
made money at both ends. Then we
dealt with the people direct. Now we
have got to deal with the agents. III a
fiat is overrun with rats, the tenant
threatens to move. Then the agent writes
Oh a postal card, Bill, rid this fat Of
rats That is mostly daylight work. /
go up to the fat and set my traps and
keep asserting them until there isn't
anything to catch"
Don't you use f~errets?'
eyes, l use ferrets in my business,
but not in fiat houses. Don't you know
that a rat killed by a ferret is just the
same as a poisoned rat under the floor
or in the wall? I sell ferrets, but what
good are they? Now, when we clean out
a fiat, why, then, we sell the lady some
stuff to keep them ont. 1t does the work
all right, only it drives them into some
other fat,
1.-THE real art in this here profession
is night work. 1t amt really what you
would call artistic, but it is more like
sleight of hand. In the daytime you go
to the place and go all over the halls
and nail pieces of tin over most Of the
holes. A house is to the rats just like a
town is to people. There are
and alleys.
Now, just imagine that some night
a lot of policemen would start from the
North river and the East river. stimuli
taneouslike, and chase everybody into
Broadway, and then set 'em all GO
ing to the Battery. Well, that's the
way we do with rats. We plug up all
the ends of the side streets, you might
say, and get them on to a Broadway.
1--WE do this by turning several fer
rets loose to stir them up. The cellar is
where ] want them. There ] am with
my little bullseye lantern and my long
tongs. The rat starts across the floor. I
hear him and flash the lanterns. The
minute the round light spot strikes him
he comes to a dead standstiil. He seems
paralyzed, and he won't move under
five seconds. Then is my chance.
IF WANT to save him to try q dog
with, / reach forward, and with my
tongs grab him by the tail. If / don't
want a live rat-and there amt much
call for them now-I break his back
with the tongs.
The biggest nights work lever done
was killing $50 rats at Wizards hotel
in Washington. When | got through
that job, | felt like proposing to the
government to rid the wharves and
docks of the country of rats. Now, that
is all there is to rat catching. The work
isn't dangerous, except when you tackle
the rats on a ship. When the Spanish
training ship was here, / took 1916 rats
off her. They were not like the house
rats we have here. They were slim and
gray, with tails twice as long as their
bodies. They were as active as monkeys.
ITO give you an idea. / have a lit
tie dog that has killed so rats in is
minutes. Iput 30 of these ship rats into
a pit with him, and at the end of so
minutes he had only killed sever They
did not fight him. but they simply kept
out of his way. jumping owe him when
he would rush.
"But, as / was a-saying, the time
was when a rat catcher had money to
burn. 1t was a dull night that he didn't
clear his $25 or S35. Now he can't
make that in a week in the busy season,
including what he gets for trimming
dogs ears, selling ferrets and things
like that. When you have to deal with
real estate agents. yon amt going to get
none the best of it"
did yon ever try the scheme of bell
ing a rat? They say that will scare all
the other rats away?'
IT only know this: III yon put q bell
on q rat, he will be found dead in the
walls inside of two days. 1t is my be-
lief that the other rats kill him; but,
49, o-x. 4ru~.k - .ts. SO = 1855