The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-04
Rams IN rHE ooAB nIxEa
TheS Are Trirnaiy with the nztnsrs and ssuae-
tlInea Give Warning af hangar.

G
HAzLEToN, Pa, Dec. 3.-The old adaEe that
rats leave a sinking ship was parallelod In a
striking manner when q cavern occurred in .
mine near here lately. The men had been work.
ing IN the slope for some hours after the night
ehitt mad gone In without apprehension Of any
Impending disaster, when suddenly q swarm OF
rats came pouring up the slope. whizzed past
hesnrprised men, and disappeared In the gloom
leading to the mouth OF the slope.
Run for your lives, boys!' shouted tho fore
men who at once knew what this meant, and
dropping their tools the men rushed out OF the
mine. 1t was we'll they did SO. for q few min
utos after they had gained the open air q
crunching and crushing noise was heard, and
the place where the men had been working was
hlled with tons OF coal and stone and dirt The
allen mass would have crushed tho llfo out OF
every one Of them had they been there when it
came down.
The rats had given the warning OF the impend-
ing disaster as they have done in many In.
stances before. and that is why a friendship ex-
lists between the miners and tho rats.
Tho mine rats seem TO be Of a species entirely
different from other rats said an old miner.
for they seem to have an affection for the mon
working in the mines ana are not at all afraid Of
them. There are rats that never saw the light
Of day. and they seem to have eyes like q cat or
-. $3.50 VI thNs Nhi y ptEIGCttI lt thO .uetas
They are very smart, too, and scent danger
afar OF. They are never found in q dangerous
and over and again that when there are no rats
In q breast or along n gang.way, II 10 unsafe for
2 man to work or iingor there: AZ soon as the
t1mbers crack, or n crunchinR noise is heard, the
That's why the fellows in No. 4 slope got out
rats skip past. for they Snowed that something
was p soon Eoin' to hsnPen. And It did; ,,,,u
danger, they get friendly With him ! IN other
ways. Wo had some rats in the mines that were
T9sI P ssIiow When esmd ! Ssi1k a. IN mt the s,o stsSls @b. a%g
fed the mules, and a friendship sprang up be-
tween us. When you are all alone In the. mines
company. So / took a shine to the little fellows
that they would almost feed ID out Of my hand &C .''N
waiting nithSy f %oS a ar slt d ~ b 5rsni Of | % triea at 10 C catch Sei;
made a move they would skip out. Rats are
not SO plentiful now az they used to be. as cats
e%xterninste them. But ! believe that rats are
good 70 have in q slope. They know when
saved by these despised rats.
"On the other hand. the rats sometimes get to
t Ss a n ntaSiss IN IN the the T briftsr M mine. tS ESFks %e re-
cat. They like corn and feed; and often had
me nor Of half a dozen men. They we're too fresh
trough as soon as we put tho corn or feed in for
the mules to cat. They would jump in before
the jacks could get a mouthful. and would
gobble up every grain. They got TO be such a
nuisance after awhile that we determined to get
rid Of them. We got poison and scattered II
along the troughs where the rats could get at Il
bushel of rats that had died during the night
from tho effects of the poison. Another time
NO had an order from q saloon keeper for nifty
rats. He wanted them for his dogs to have some
fun with, and we caught the required number
in q few hours. When we got them to the sur
face thoy looked a little surprised. for they had
never seen daylight before. But they put up O
great fight with the dogs when they were in the
pit with them"