The record-union., 1896-12-13
ROBBED BY RATS.
A Chicago rlan's Story of How He
Lost a Basket of Cranes.

Lost Basket OF Grapes.
| Pretty well down on the South Side
there lives a man who has a reputation
for being quiet, veracious and sober,
| but he tells story about a colony of
rats in his house which goes far ahead
of any egg-stealing performance ever
accredited to the clever rodents
This truthful man lives in Bowen ave-
nue., in 8 house which is in the middle
! of red brick block. For some time he
| had suspected the presence of a rat or
two about the premises, but had never
| been able to get a glimpse of the willy
! little creatures. One night last week,
| howevey, his wish was grauiied. 1t
fell out as follows:
On the night in question this sober
and veraciouS man took up to his bed
| room with him a large basket of lus-
ciouS grapes. He had determined 20
follow out his usual cusctom of reading
| himself TO sleep, but as ii was early he
| thought he would first try the flavor of
his grapes. Some time after midnight
| he began to grow so sleepy that he de-
cided to give up his dual recreation.
| He was still awake enough, he states.
to reflect that If he left the basket OF
grapes on the edge of the bed, where it
was repoSing. the chances were good
| that it would be overturned before
morning. SO his last act before sink
| ing into dreamless slumber was to lif.
down the basket of grapes to the floor.
The originally full basket still weighed
| four or five pounds. The man was
started safely on his nights repose.
| Then the rats came into the story.
| 1t was in the first gray dawn of the
morning that the truthful man awoke.
| He had vague idea that something
| unusual had aroused him, but did not
! pay much attention until startled by
! the sound of something scurrying
across the floor of the room, accompa-
| MED by a series of regular squeaks
| proceeding from the bathroom door.
| Then he became wide awake at once,
| and by the most careful maneuvers
saw the following performance going
/ on:
| On its side lay the basket of grapes.
| 1t was emptied except for the presence
| OF bunch or two of the fruit The
| truthful man could hardly believe his
eyes, until a large rat, which ran out
| from the bathroom and seized a bunch.
| showed him the cause While he still
stared in astonishment the rat dragged
| the fruit into the bathroom and re-
turned for another load, repeating the
same performance. All along the floor
was trail of single grapes dropped
| from the stems and neglected in the
press of business.
| On seeing his last bunch of grapes
disappearing the veracious man con-
trived with infinite trouble to move to
| the foot of the bed, where he could get
| a view of the proceedings in the bath
| room.
In front of a rough, irregular hole
under the bathtub stood the father of
| all rats with grape in his mouth. Just
as the truthful man looked, this first of
| the rodent tribe gave a curious little
squeal, and with a quick motion of his
head tossed the grape into the hole.
Shortly afterward was heard another
| similar squeak inside, followed by an
other and another, as the grape trav-
eled into the interior of the walls. But,
| without waiting for the following sig
nails, the big rat Immediately took up
| another fruit out of a group on the floor.
which an understood animal was snip
ping off from the punches as fast as they
came in, and repeated the performance.
/ =
bunch of grapes arrived in gallop from
| the basket, was separated into it's COM
pOnent fruits, and pitched into the hole,
going apparently-judging from the
| series of squeaks-like a box of goods
down line of porters into a warehouse,
and ending in some hidden rendezvous
in the depths of the building.
1t was too much for the truthful man.
| Gathering his startled faculties together
! he made a rush toward the bathroom.
| The rats disappeared with salvo of
| terrified squeaks, leaving a few grapes
and hole in the wall. The man went
| back to bed determined to do his best to
| keep his reason.
| Next morning the truthful man made
a careful examination of the premises.
| There was the basket, the scattered
| grapes and the hole. To satisfy him.
self, the veracious individual tore off a
| board from under the bathtub and ex-
| amined the place inside. There was a
gap of four or five inches between the
edge of the hole and the nearest beam,
| then beyond a second beam and a pas
sageway down the inside of the wall to
| the floor below.
The truthful man scratched his head.
rubbed his eyes, and looked again. He
| took measurements made computations
| and then went back and tried it all over
again. Then he went out and told his
| friends about the remarkable occur
renee. Now his reputation for truth eX-
| lists no longer. Besides saying Rats
| in rather emphatic manner, the mild
| est thing his friends said to him was:
| well, maybe you have special kind
| of rats down in Bowen avenue. Chi
cago Tribune.
Rev. Peter Wawrzyiak of Srem, Ger
many, is at present the guest of friends