Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-23
THE RATcArCHER,s SECRETS.
Joe Peoples Way of Clearing a Plac,
of These Pests.

Joe Peoples Way of Clearing q Place
of These Pests.
From the Portland oreeonian.
I'm rough erD rats, I am: yes, sir; my
name is Joe Peoples;' and catches rats; SO
they calls me the rAtca tcher. Look here, F"
and Mr.. Peoples slowly drew hand from
one of his capatfous trousers pockets, and
that hand firmly held an enormous rat. 1t
the raD blinksd And 'wriggled slightly. after
which it remained quiet The man put 1t
back in his pocket, AS he did so, 1t was
noticeable that he allowed the rat to slip out
Of his hand into his pocket instead of plac-
ing his hand in and drawing it away. He
appeared to be fairly infested with rats, for
he had one or more in each pocket. large
enough to hold one. He even took one out
of his sleeve, and 1t Is possible that he had
one in the crown of his hat. He was an odd
looking character. He had Enthusiastically
the air Of sailor; his expressions were
sailor-like, and his critical observations of
the ships in the river smacked of long sea
experience.
See that ere bark over yonder," said Mr..
Peoples. 'tShe were alive with rats. for
ward and aft, tween decks and IN the hold.
Well, cleaned every rat out of that bark in
less'n four days time. You ask the mate
about it."
Mr.. Peoples mentioned several vessels in
Guiding wellknown coast steamer, and
several hotels which he had cleared of rats,
in no case taking over ten days time.
How do do It? Well. y'see. that would
be heavin' the whole thing overheard as far
as my profit is concerned. 1t took me a
long time to learn how. I am the only one
In It at the present time, and makes bread
and butter for me and Mrs. Peoples out of 1t.
It's not strictly bong-tong, but there's
money In 1t, and it's interestin'. There's no
four-footed thing on earth that's on to more
dCdges and up to more tricks than an old
bald headed rat. He winks at poison and
laughs at traps.
mo. 1 never poisons 'em No use You
can't poison EN- all. More will come. and
you have the dead ones lynn round between
floors. don't trap 'em. either. only a few
that fixes up and turns loose again. Now.
If you won't give it away, III let you in on
part of the scheme. You see this big Teller
1 just caught him up at the - hotel this
morning. He was too smart for a trap, but
| laid for him and caught him with my
hands before he could get back to the hole
Now, I'm goin' to give him torch and a
bell to carry, ard dip him all over In some
thing else that l won't tell you about, and
then tonight I'll take him back to the hotel
and let him go free. -..., -
II mean by torch that I'll paint his back
with PHOSPHORUS paint. SO he'll be beau
t,ful sight and shinin' light in every rat
hole he gets into. and by bell mean a
Senooine bell like this" Here the rat
catcher drew from his vest pocket tiny
round bell. like sleigh bell. but smaller.
This ere bell I'll fix around his neck with
q wire, so, even If the phosphorus wears off.
he'll still be able to surprise his mates
wherever he goes. Course, he feels sociab;e
and friendly-like, in spite of the fix he is in.
and wants to get back to his mates and spin
a yarn to EN-, maybe about his funny ad-
venture with the Eatcatcher. But his mates,
they don't recognize him. They give him
the marble heart. They don't like his burn
in back. nor his alarm bell, and, what
more than ANYTHING else, they don like the
smell of him. He smells like a thousand
ferrets. All his mates will leave In a body
as he comes around: hen keep tryin' to get
with them. and finally it'll end by every last
rat leavn' the ship or the buildin' I've
known EN- to Jump overheard and drown if
they couldn't get on any other way. And
they won't come back for a long time I
guarantees every place for a year. You see,
that stuff soaks the rat in scents up every
hole and runway he goes through. like fer
ret would, only worse, and my doctored rat
goes over every rat promenade of the place
cbasin his friends before they leave the ship
or the buildin'. No rat will allow himself to
go into any place Where he smells ferret.
Not he: He just winks one eye and says: I
and gets out" "