The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-07
Strange Secret Power of
Joseph Peoples Over
the Rodents.
They Peek From His Pockets
and He Handles Them as
Safely as Canaries.
His Story of How He Rids Hotels,
Ships and Warehouses of the
Little Animals.

A red-faced man about 80 years old, of
medium height and dressed in a corduroy
suit, was at the Grand Hotel yesterday.
From the Grand he went to the Occidental
and Baldwin and back to the Quaker
Dairy restaurant on Suffer street.
crowd followed in his wake, and others
seeing the crowd, and not knowing what
it was all about, trained along after the
man also. 1t soon became evident what
caused the Juror. From out of the pockets
of the CORDUROY coat peered innumerable
heads of live animals. One was perched
on the shoulder of the red-faced man,
while from the right sleeve of his coat
dangled a long tail, the fac-simile of rat
tail file, except that there was a coil to it,
for the tail was, in fact, a rat-tail, and the
various small animals peering about, ro-
dents.
The man was none other than the
strange Englishman, who has been heard
of at different places on the coast as Joe
Peoples, the king of the rat-catchers. He
is voluDle, confident talker, and is full
of strange tales as to how he makes rats
disappear. For that is where he derives
his pecuniary benefits, occasioned by the
display of the rodents exhibited aforesaid.
About two years ago Peoples arrived
here from his home in Portland and set
out to eradicate all the rats from the great
buildings of the City. He was unknown
and his engagement was brief. but he
managed to get 500 out of Fred Dexter.
the erstwhile manager of the Baldwin, for
attempting the cleaning out of the rodents
in that big caravansary.
Peoples convinced Dexter that the rats
would, after he had made a few passes at
them, be constrained to drop down from
the upper floors and come up from the cell
lar and foregather generally on the office
floor of the institution; then they were all
to be conveyed out on the Powell-street
side and conducted to North Beach, or in
troduced to the waters of the bay from the
foot OF Market street.
1t was a great scheme and Peoples in
Weighed loudly as to what he could do,
and Dexter stood by and listened apace.
The end of it was that Peoples charmed
away the good red gold in the hands Of
Dexter and then set forth to accomplish
his mission. He got some rats, it is said,
but it doesn't appear that he could muster
platoons and brigades of them. Enemies
of his have even darkly limited that some
of the rodents expired between the tim
bers of the hotel owing to the effect of the
baleful drug that the rat-catcher had
strewn broadcast. 1t is said that for some
DAYS the departed made their presence felt
about the institution that the manager
was bathed in gloom. But Peoples was all
business and insisted that that contract be
carried out.
81 have been in the business OF Kidding
ships, docks, hotels and other places of
rats for great many years." said Peoples
to the crowd which surrounded him.
| Don't be afraid of these rats you see
here-they won't bite you; got these Just
little while ago. They were as wild as
anv that you ever saw. 1t all depends on
how you handle them. l can take any of
them, and in little while they will be
! Just as tame as any canary bird you ever
saw. Any body can handle them, too.
81 have taken lot of contracts since
arrived here. I've been the rounds of the
| hotels and 1 am going to work in lot of
them. I've already cleaned the rats out
/ from Captain Tilden's bonded warehouse
and also from the Yolo mill. I have lust
come down from the Baldwin now. I'm
hoping to get job to clean out the rats
up there. My price from hotel is about
SAL. You see, am taking contracts all
around, and if get enough contracts I'm
going to move my family down here
have cleaned out great many public
buildings on different parts of the coast.
Among them are the buildings of the Ia
coma Warehouse and Elevator Company,
the warehouse of Lily, Bogardus & Co. OF
Seattle, the steamer Danube OF the Cana
dian Pacific line and many other places"
The rat-catcher king has an odd mode
of procedure. He begins on the top floor,
he says, and works down, sprinkling his
secret preparation everywhere that rat
can hide. The preparation gives pecu-
liar smell, like a mongoose or ferret, and
then the rodents seek pastures new. Ac-
cording to his graphic tale, if the patron
cares TO stay until evening he can see