Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-05-31
E" TWO'S COMPANY"

night for the purpose of finding out
what would be served for dinner the
next day. Billy Crump was always
something of a rat himself when it
came to banqueting.
Rats in the white house have ALWAYS
satisfied themselves with the 1arder;
but rats in the executive departments
have sometimes been driven by hunger
to eat and destroy valuable papers
which cannot be reproduced at any
cost. These yerInin used to do a great
deal of damage at the post office de-
partment. They ate quantities Of
money orders and postal notes, as well
as blank books. Much damage was
done by them to dead" packages in
the store room for such goods. The
dead letter office would notify a per-
son that parcel addressed to him was
held for lack of sufficient postage.
In case of this sort it often hap
pened that, by the time the postage
was received the contents of the bum
die were gobbled up. This was en-
barrassing and calculated to make
trouble. So, two years ago a rat
catcher was employed. He brought
ferrets and cleared out the building.
Incidentally he astouished the official
by crawling all around the structure,
a distance of four blocks. making his
way beneath the flooring of the sub
basement, where there was no space
to wrigglc through save such as had
been left in putting down the sewer
and gas pipes. This fcrret-lilSe pro-
ceeding is very destructive to health,
on account of the bad air and mephitic
gases encountered. It was also very
destructive to the rats. They. have
never since taken possession of the
entire department building; but they
are increasing in numbers annually.
There will come a time when ferret
ing must again be resorted to by the
officials.
One office, more than all others in
this city, has been abused by the press
and people, year in and year out, I'M
til reputable public men have ceased
to seek appointment as the executive
head of that Office. ] refer to the
bureau of pensions. But the rats and
mice like the pension office very well.
They witnessed its construction few
years ago, and pronounced it good.
Swarms of them adopted the building
as their home while it was yet in proc
ess of construction. At present the
walls are alive with them and the floors
are full of their holes. They feed on
the remnants of two thousand daily
lunches eaten in the building. Such
scraps commonly find their way to the
waste paper room, which serves the
rodents as a breeding place. The
watchmen tried at one time to reduce
their numbers by shooting them with
air guns, but those weapons were not
very effective.
At night a rustling is often heard
among the contents of the big waste
baskets, which happen to be down
stairs on their way to the dumping
place. Then the guards pick UP the
suspected basket softly and carry it to
the fountain in the middle of the great
court. BY shaking the receptacle they
oblige Mr.. Rat to jump into the water.
If he succeeds in swimming out they
dispatch him with their clubs. Many
= midnight hunting expedition of this
kind has occurred in the big central
court, in the dim light and the mystic
silence of the. dreary midnight hour
or the ghostly small hours after
twelve.
In the treasury department rats used
to eat greenbacks. Many thousand
dollars in good paper money have been
mutilated by rats and then destroyed
by cancelers and macerators. New
money was always printed in its place
and the only loss the government sus-
tanned was the expense of printing.
But the rats have now no show fol-
costly suppers Of that description. Tho
paper money is kept in fire-proo1
vaults, in rooms of solid granite with
steel doors. 1t would surely produce
a toothache for any rodent who might
undertake to gnaw through those
walls or doors. The registered bonds.
in the immense Office of the register of
the treasury, used to be subject to the
incursions of the midnight marauding
rodent, but they are also secured from
danger of that character. Moreover
the important official papers in the
registers office are now filod in tens
Of thousands of tin pigeon holes in the
top story of the treasury department.
It is very strange that rats and mice
should so infest such buildings as the
treasury, interior, post Office depart
ment or other executive Offices. The
great buildings have walls from two
feet to six feet thick, and the base
ments are all conereted, from wall tc
wall. But the rats are there, and ap
parently have brought their knitting
and intend to stay. SMITH d. Fry.
New Species