The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-26
QUEER CALIFORNIA HUNT.
1t Began with Bcdbugs and Ended
With About IA Barrel of Bats.
From the New York Sun.


From the New York Sun.
Sonoma, Cal-About forty miles north
of San Francisco, in the county of So
noma, stands the California State Home
for the Feeble Minded. 1t is presided
over by DR.. A. f. Osborne, who has a
horror Of uncleanliness in any form.
When, therefore, one day an attendant
reported TO him that bedbugs had been
discovered in his dormitory the doctor
was Mortified. He hurried to the scene
of the invasion Here he found in the
north wall a long zigzag crack in the
plaster, made by a recent earthquake, and
in this crack a nest of the creatures.
No times was lost in attacking the in
vaders. The usual chemicals were applied,
the dormitory was oVerhauled, beds and
bedsteds were thoroughly cleansed ana
when the fumigation was finished there
was not a bedbug in sight Within TWEEN
tyfourh ours, back came the attendant
with the tidings that the insects had re-
appeared in greater numbers than ever
DR.. Osborne is an enthusiastic amateur
naturalist and familiar with the habits
of almost all common insects. He at once
ordered a thorough search of the caves of
the institution for swallows nests, for it
Is in these that the bedbug frequently
propagates, as every farmers wife knows.
But not one could be found. So the doctor
spent that evening out of doors, rambling
about the premises. with his eyes and
ears open. His quest was rewarded by
the discovery of another possible source
of supply
The air was full of bats They huttered
about singly and in schools to the num-
Der of thousands, seemingly. He had
never seen so many bats in his life. The
origin of the bedbugs was no longer a
mystery, for he knew that the ratio of
the bedbug to the bat is the same as that
of the flea to the dog. So the doctor or
dered the carpenter to locate the sleeping
place of the creatures, and went 20 bed.
1t took the carpenter two days TO trace
the bats to their lair, but he finally did.
The earthquake which had cracked the
plaster in the domitory had wrenched the
tin flashing of the chimney several inches
away from the bricks, thus affording
the bats ingress to the follow space be-
tween the lathWOrk and wall of the build
ing. The carpenter went 10 work on the
wall and son tore hole large enough for
a boy TO crawl through. While he stood
looking at it out came a bat. startled by
the unwonted daylight. Another follow
ed, and another, and the carpenter began
to amuse himself by chasing them around
the room with his hat, still others emery
ed from the hole in the wall, and presently
the astonished carpenter found himself in
the midst of a swarm Of bats.
A great battle followed. The carpenter
laid about him with everything he could
get hold of, and the bats flew about his
head in clusters like a swarm of bees. He
fought until exhausted, then gave 1t up
and sent for the doctor, who found him in
his shirt sleeves, with trembling limbs
al n u1JTNGyipnr a n
dead bats which he had laid out on a
board There were forty eight.
This is the official list Of the killed
and wounded" said the carpenter. Three
thousand more flew away out Of the win
dow"
Nonsense" said the doctor but went
OIL 10 che laboratory and got some bisul-
phide of carbon, which he put into the hole
in the wall. Being denser than the air It
sank to the foundation OF the building and
the havoc It created on its way down
would have shamed The dynamite gun OF
the cruiser Vesuvius, which, as the Span
ish Informed the victorious American
army. used TO fire earthquakes az them
during the siege Of Santiago. Every bat
and every bug IN that wall perished then
and there. Not one escaped. A few i.ats
futtered out into the room. 20 fan dead
on the floor few bugs crawled labor
lousy out Of the hole 20 die on the wall.
In "A few minutes al was over
How many bats the doctor harvested
Qua Of that hole in the wall Is not known
accurately. he says be- never saw ~
many bats before and never expects 20
again. There must have been "a barrel of
them. Where they came from ln such
numbers 81 "A mystery, ssh upF9lYed.
--~@--s~s-r~
Pleasant for fho Artisi.-Yisitor-"I DO
think sculpture a. " much more Interest