The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-01-24
QUEER CALIFORNIA HUNT.
IL Began with n search Tor Bedbugs
and Ended with About a Bar
rel of BATS.

About 40 miles north of San Fran
cisco, in the county of Sonoma, stands
the California state home for the feeble
minded. II is presided over by DR.. A.
4. Osborne, who has horror of un-
cleanliness in any form. When, there
fore, one day an attendant reported to
him that bedbugs had been discovered
in his dormiiory, the doctor was horri-
fed. He hurried TO the scene of the
invasion, Here he found in the north
wall long zigzag crack in the plaster,
made by a recent earthquake, and in
this crack a nest of the creatures. No
time was lost in attacking the invaders.
The usual chemicals were applied, the
dormitory was overhauled beds and
bedsteds were thoroughly cleansed, and
when the fumigation was finished there
was not bedbug in sight. Within "a
hours, back came the attendant with
the tidings that the insects had reap
peared in 9eater numbers than ever.
DR.. Osborne is an enthusiastic anna
teur naturalist and familiar with the
habits of almost all common insects.
He at once ordered thorough search OF
the caves of the institution for swai-
lows 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, ram
bling about the premises, with his eyes
ard ears open. His quest was reward
ed by the discovery of another possible
source Of supply.
The air was full of bats. They fut-
tered about singly and in schools to the
number of thousands, seemingly. He
had never seen SO many bats in his life.
The origin Of the bedbugs was no long
er a mystery, for he knew that the
ratio of the bedbug 10 the bat is the
same as that of the flea to the dog. So
the doctor ordered the carpenter 10
locate the sleeping place of the crea-
lures, and went to bed.
1t took the carpenter two days to
trace the bats to their lair, hut he
finally did. The earthquake which had
cracked the plaster in the dormitory
had wrenched the tin flashing of the
chimney several inches away from the
bricks, thus affording the bats ingress
TO the hollow space between the lath-
work and wall of the building. The car
penter went to work on the wall and
soon tore hole large enough for boy
10 crawl through. While he stood lock-
ing at it out came bat, startled by the
unwonted daylight. Another followed.
and another, and the carpenter began
to amuse himself by chasing them
around the room with his hat. Still
others emerged from the hole in the
wall, and presently the astonished car
penter found himself in the midst of a
swarm of bats.
A great battle followed. The carpen-
ter laid about him with everything he
could get hold Of, and the bats flew
about his head in clusters like swarm
of bees. He fought until exhausted,
then gave it up and sent for the doc
tor, who found him in his shirt sleeves,
with trembling limbs and arms akimbo.
surveying a row of dead bats which he
had laid out on a board. There were As.
This is the official list of the killed
and wounded" said the carpenter.
Three thousand more few away out
of the window"
Nonsense" said the doctor, but
went off to the laboratory and got some
bisulphide of carbon, which he put into
the hole in the wall. Being denser than
the air ii sank 10 the foundation of the
building, and the havoc it created on its
way down would have shamed the dyna-
mite gun of the cruiser Vesuvius, which,
as the Spanish informed the victorious
American army, used to fire earth
quakes at them during the siege of
Santiago. Every bat and every bug in
that wall perished then and there. Not
one escaped. A few bats fiuttered out
into the room, only to fall dead on the
floor. A few bugs crawled laboriously
out of the hole TO die on the wall. In a
few minutes all was over.
How many bats the doctor harvested
out of that hole in the wall is not known
accurately. He says he never saw so
many bats before and never expects to
again. There must have been barrel
of them. Where they came from in
such numbers is mystery, still un
solved.-N. Y. Sun.
Lucky Wedding Days.
1t is superstition that leads us to Sc
laot Gs4orapt Saucapc of 4ha vaar -