Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1898-03-17
He Is A RAT DRIVER.
LUMINOUS PAINT SUCCGEpe WHERE
s6Lls, TAR AND TRAPS FAILED.
A Man Who Makes Good Money Clearing
Warehouses and Other Concerns Around
New York of Troublesome RodentA-Be-
gan the business In Stockholm.

| New York of Troublesome Rodents-Be-
gan the Bu,iness In Stockholm.
| Haibtues Of Riverside drive between
| Seventy fifth and Ei2htieth streets. on
very sunny days have noticed middle
! aged man carrying case, which APP
pears 70 be about three feet long by one
| foot deep and two feet wide. 1t Is ap-
| parently black leather case with an
ordinary grip handle to the upper part,
and the man, seeking some unfrequent-
I'd piece of wall, generally one of the
| embrasures, places his case on the wall,
| smokes his pipe and letters around, look
| ing at the ever changing river and its
| traffic. If Others come around, he moves
| on, but If not he may stay there from
| two to three hours in the full sun. He
| Is rat catcher, or rather rat driver.
| He works only in large warehouses and
| hoes not touch the smaller dwelling
| houses or fats except in rare cases.
He is Scandinavian whom nothing
will warm to conversation but his ma
! tive tongue. His case is wood on the
| back, ends and bottom and wire on the
front and top. There are neat spring
| shades which roll down over front and
| top. In this cage are eight or ten large
rats. If any one comes near, down 20
| the shades, but as long as the coast is
clear the shades arc up and the rats are
running around basking in the sunlight
If he takes you into his confidence, he
will tell You that it is with these rats
be clears buildings. The other day he
| said;
when | was living in Stockholm,
! the large granaries were full Of rats,
and a reward was offered to clear them.
Many tried. Traps were set by the
| hundred.
lone man built room as large as an
| ordinary parlor, cased it with tin and
fed tho rats with oatmeal scented with
oil II anisced, gradually laying trains
of this feed to the room until he had all
the rats on string. Then he fitted an
automatic drop to the entrance, aud
" ben his rats were feeding he Gagged
| them all, several hundred. The first
man who did this went into the room
| with dogs to kill them and was nearly
eaten himself, like that farmer out west
| few weeks ago. The second man
starved and then poisoned his, but III
week there wero just as many rats as
| ever Tho supply was inexhaustible
from the rivers and quays. Poisoning
was no good because of the terrific
smell, and so | took the matter in hand.
II thought 1T over and finally set "A
! trap and caught some rats Then | tied
| IA piece Of wire roand their necks, to
! which | slung little tinlslng brass
bell, and then | lot the bell ringers
loose III the building they had been
caught in. They knew the runs and
went to join their friends and relatives,
| who of course ran from the bells. The
more they ran the more ran the bell
| carriers, until the building was hoo
| doc in rat language and not rat
would enter.
IF | could have lured back my bell
| carriers, all would have been well; but,
| familiarity breeding contempt, the rats
| grew accustomed to them and in few
months were back again, and as build
| ing after building had been cleared by
| this trick there was not "a rat in the city
| who did not know Of the bells Then
tried tarring some rats with strong
| smelling coal tar, which rats cannot
bear and will avoid if possible, and this
| answered for awhile, but a fire occurred,
| and rat. tar coated, ran out of the
| blazing building with his fur ablaze
| and, going into another building not in
! danger set it ON iire--wood gets very
| dry in those old buildings over there
and so an ordinance was passed prohib-
| iting tho use of tar.
II had made money, and / came to
this country. | did we'll for some years,
but in the depression my capital ran
! short and | failed; SO then l took to
! clearing business places of rats again
and am doing quite we'll The first
| thing Is TO learn the lay of the building
| where the rats come from. II grain
elevator is near, clear the elevator and
trap those in the other places, Rats very
| seldom run around more than one build
/ ing, except as an overflow Then, hay-
| ing determined that point, try the tar,
| then the bell, and after that these fell
lows in the cage They are coated with
luminous paint, and being exposed to
| the sunlight here can he taken to a
building tonight, lOosed and viii fly
| through the runs, spreading fear wher-
ever they 10 and creating "a stampede,
If You have ever seen luminous paint
effects, yOu can readily understand it.
! The great beauty of this plan is that the
rats do not live moro than "a to IS
hours after a coating with this paint, so
the novelty wears off 1t is prep
arati.u # lime, which / discovered for
I myself. and has to be newly made aud
mixed hbon varuish. This closes the
! pores Of the skin, aud after chasing
around 20 catch upwith the flying rola-
\ tiyes the rat Is in a sweat and that fin
ishcs him and theyueyor get used TO it,
( VIII llut sweat: Well you cage a rat,
uug rk.u LET Il tpr,lrr roll the cage