The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-17
THE RAT cATcHER's SECRETS.
Joe Peoples Way of Clearing a Place
of These Pests.
From the Portland oregonian.


From the Portland Oregonian.
I'm rough on rats, am; yes, sir; my
name is Joe Peoples, and 1 catches rats;
so they calls me the rat-catcher Look
here" and Mr.. Peoples slowly drew a
hand from one of his capacious trousers
pockets, and that hand firmly held an
enormous rat. 1t Qhe raO blinked and
wriggled slightly. after which it re-
! manned quiet. The man put it back in
his pocket As he did so, it was notice
able that he allowed the rat to slip out
of his hand into his pocket, instead of
placing 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 it is
possible that he had one in the crown of
his hat He was an odd-looking charac-
ter, was Mr.. Peoples, as he stood there
on burnside bridge smoking his pipe and
nonchalently handling his rodent pocket
I companions. He had Enthusiastically the
air of a sailor; his expressions We're 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, taking his pipe from his
mouth and indicating a vessel lying
alongside a dock on the east side. "She
We're alive with rats, forward and aft,
tween decks end in the hold. Lots Of
'em had been in her for a long time and
got bald in the face with age, and fat
with plenty like the one l showed you.
They got so bold they played 'puss-in>
the-corner' and 'hide-and-seek' on the
main deck at midday. Well, 1 cleaned
every rat out of that bark in IeSS'n four
days time You ask the mate about it,
Mr. Peoples here mentioned several 9TH
err vessels, including a well-knoWn coast
steamer, and several prominent hotels in
the city. which he had likewise entirely
81 cd of c N a
days time
How do I do it? Wen. y'see, that would
be heavin' the whole thing overheard as
far as my profit is concerned. It took me a
long time and a deal of thinkin' and eX-
perimentin to learn how. know that the
gentry may not think there's much in the
/ profession of Tatcatchin', but l am the
only one in il at the present time, and l
make bread and butter for me and Mrs.
Peoples out of it. It's not strictly bong
tong, but there's money in it, ana it's in
terestin' Now, there's no fOur-footed
thing on each that on to more lodges and
up TO more tricks than an old bald-headed
rat. He WinkS at poison, and laughs at
traps, but the mind of man, which means
Joe Peoples, has found way to circum-
vent him.
mo. | never poisons EN-. No use You
can't poison EN- all, nor any more than a
mighty small percentage OF EN-. Then
more Will come as fast as YOU poison, and
you have the dead ones lynn round be-
tween floors. 1 don't trap EN-, either, only
a few that l fixes up for my specialpur-
I pose, and turns loose again. Now, say, if
you won't give it away, I'll let you in on
very confidential here. You see this big
Teller. l just caught him up at the - no
tel 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 a
torch and a bell to carry and dip him all
over in something else that ! won't tell
you about, and then tonight III take him
back to the hotel and let him go free.
Il mean by torch that I'll paint his
back with phosphorus paint, so he'll be
a beautiful sight and a shinin' light in
every rat hole he gets into, and by bell
l mean a genOOine bell, like this" Here
the rat-catcher drew from his pocket a
tiny round bell like a sleigh bell, but
smaller This ere bell III fix around
his neck with a wire, so even If the phos-
phOrus wears off he'll be able to surprise
his mates wherever he goes. Course. he
feels sociable an friendly like, in spite of
, the fix he is in, and wants to get back to
his mates and spin yarn to EN-, maybe
about his funny adventure with the rat
catcher. But his mates, they don't recog-
nize him. They give him the marble
heart. They don't like his burnin' back :
nor his alarm bell, AID what's more than
anything else, they don't like the smell
of him. He smells like a thousand fer
rets. That's owing to the stun / dip him
in. Rats don't like ferrets-nOt much
Now, you understand all these things
make every rat as has any decency or
responsibility about him leave the room
as soon as my rat enters it,
Hes like q Hindu Teller that was a
passenger once aboard a ship 1 was on
from Calcutta to Liverpool He told the
mate he could never 80 back TO India and
live in the same style again because he'd
lost something he called caste / think
ii was by visiting a furrin' country So
YOU see that ere rat, he'll lose caste from
having been In my hands. All his mates
will leave In a body as he comes around :
he'll keep tryin 20 get with EN- and
frglir it'H end hv every last rat lenvint~