Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-10-29
RATS ENDED THE STRIKE.


A Combination Against striking i. !lCr3
Which They Could Not Resist
"Not one of the biggest. but one
of the most stubborn strikes that
ever occurred in the Pennsylvania
coal region" said 1t former mining
engineer, "was ended by rats. The
rats that intest coal mines are of
enormous size and as ravenous as
they are big. The miners not only
tolerate them, but stand in awe of
them, for it is a firm belief with The
coal miner that these rats can fore
tell disaster and give warming to the
miners of their danger Ivy scurrying
out of the threatened mine in drOVcs
in ample tiMo to enable tho miners
to make their escape also. So care
full are the w0rkmen of these great,
hungry rats that it is not an uncon-
mon sight to SEQ miner feeding
half q dozen or more from his din.
ner pail. They sometimes become
SO tame that they will climb on Il
miners lap as he sits ut his Under
ground meal and crowd around him
to receive such portions Of his meal
as he cares to toss to them.
"T'hesc rats never leave the mines
SO long lis work is going on. The
food of the mine mules is kept in
the mines, and on this the rats
largely subsist They swarm about
when the mules are eating, and
sometimes tho mules have to fight
the rats to save their meal. Often
scores of dead rats will 10 found III
mules stall in tho mines, where
they have heen trampled to death in
efforts to secure portion of the
mules feed. When mine lies idle
any length Of time and the mules
are taken ont, the rats abandon it
and become great pest in the min
ing villages.
"Tho strike refer to was caused
by the refusal of q mine boss to re-
instatu Il minor no had discharged.
Tho men quit work. Tho mine own
ers declared they would let grass
grow and choke the mouth of the
slope before they would give in t.
the men, and the mon swore THAI
they would cut the grass and eat it,
if necessary, before they would yield
their point. The mules were taken
from the mlne and turned out to
pasture. Tho rats, being thus de.
prived of their sustenanca, abandon.
ed the mine and took up their quar-.
ters about the miners Shantir!,
where they soon became Il terror O
the families. Tho strike continued,
and the supplies Of the men became
exhausted. Miners at neighhorinG
collcrirs who were ut work respond
ell to the requests of their striking
brothers for aid and sent two wagon
loads of provisions and supplies of
various kinds. These were taken in
charge by a conmittccnppointodf o1
the purpose and wero stored il Il
building, from which they were to
be distributed to tho neediest of the
miners. The very first night the
supplies were in tho building it was
ruided by il horde of rats, and cv-
erything was devoured or carried
away. Four different loads Of pro.
visions wore contributed by the sym
pathetic working miners, but it WAS
impossible to suvo more than one.
third of them from the rats. Some
of the miners kept cows at that
time, there being plenty of free pas
turage, but soon after the strike he.
gan the cows began to fall short III
their yield of milk. This was Il mys,
terry until one morning Il miner dis,
covered half dozen big rats suck.
ing tho milk from his cow as she
lay on the ground complaceutly
chewing her cud. These combina.
tions against them at last forced the
miners to weaken, and they were
compelled Ivy and by to resume work
on such terms rs they could obtain,
absolutely beaten by the devourina
horde of rats. New York Sun.