The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-18
THE STRANGER COULD KILL RATS The Good Luck of "a Mi ssissipp
 Planter
 SURE CURE FOR PESTS Captain Webb Entertains a Doctor of RatoIoey, Passes the Mint JuIep and Cigars and Received Some
 Valuable Information.
SURE CURE FOR PESTS
From the New Orleans picayune.


 War has been declared upon the genus Mus and all the allied species; it is to be war to the death, and as in the dark days of the mediaeval period of the worlds history the fanatical Moslems preached the Holy War against the Franks, so today is the Board of Health calling the people to the crusade calcu- lateed to put rats out of business The crusade should havea larger following than Walter the Penniless had when he went on his purposeless march across the Syrian wastes, inspired by Peter the Hermits preaching, for it has as it's object the extermination of a pest that has long been menace to our good peo- pie, and while we're on the subject let me tell you of little incident that hap pened to good friend of mine, Cap tain J. w. Webb, prominent citizen of Aberdeen, Miss, an incident which has to do with rat extermination."
 Captain James Dinkins, the well-known local banker, was the speaker and the captain, in a reminiscent mood, was tertain1ng several friends, on an even ing not long ago. with unwritten stories of the past. The subject was apropos, and, the friends clamoring for the story, the Captain carried out the interesting beginning to a most successful conclu- sion.
 'The story I'm going to tell you of my old friend" Captain Dinkins went on, 'is of how the gentleman acquired a secret, most important secret, that of killing rats. That same secret now belongs to me, and out of kindness of heart, I'm going to share 1t with you but wait a bit As Shakespeare would say, thereby hangs tale, and until we get to the end of that tale my rare se- cret will keep.
 gro return to Captain Webb. The Captain had a fine place on the outskirts of Aberdeen, one of those splendid Southern mansions, with wide verandas and set in grove of trees. There was everything on that place to make life worth the living, but there was one heavy affliction the family suffered, and that was rats. Like the poet wrote they fought the dogs and chased the cats;' they swarmed everywhere; size and numbers gave them boldness, and the popular rat poisons of the day were to them choice tit-bits, and they grew fat on them.
 '"rhe Captain and his family were we'll nigh distracted by their enforced guests; they were at their wits ends for relief, and I believe that had any one gone to my friend and offered to buy the place he could have had it for a song, rats and all.
 My story proper begins early in June. : 1887. ."It was on a balmy afternoon, with the gentle breeze signing through the tree tops and the birds, glad of the re- turn of golden spring, coraling on the branches, that the Captain took his big wicker chair. and placing it on the front porch, lay back on 1t with his feet on the gallery rail and his pipe in his mouth. 1a~r af 14-- time when he was one of Forests dash ing cavalrymen, and harried and worried the Union troops in three states. It was pleasant dreaming so, but every now and then the Captain would be brought to the realization of the grim present by the quicknscampering of tiny clawed feet over the gallery floor and a chorus of squeaks and squeals as the rodents engaged in their squabbles beneath the flooring. rDrat those rats,' the Captain remarked, coming out of his reverie at a squeaky disturbance greater than us- ual. I wish the ship that first brought those persistent pests from Norway in the early days of our country had sunk midway in the Atlantic. Lord Mahon onght to be here now; he'd think all Scandinavia's pestiferous rodent popIla- ton had left the home land and quar- tered on me-
 "But ere the Captain could return to his day dreaming he became aware of the presence of a stranger in the road just in front of his house. The stranger was tall, garbed in black, wore tall crowned slouch hat set at a dangerous angle on his thick mop of dark hair, and with his pale, cadaverous face and long bony hands, he had the appearance of a patent medicine man, or a conju- TOT.
 2 'The stranger, with slow, musing pace, traversed the road to the gate, and there paused, and while the Captain watched him with some interest not un- mixed with wonder, the fellow leaned over the fence, peered here and there in the yard and seemed to be studying the general plan of the house.
 Like the placer at last asked Cap tain Webb, unable to contain himself longer.
 "'Oh, good afternoon, sir and the stranger strengthened up, took off his hat in a sweeping bow, and bent his long body double to add to the saluta- tion. Pray pardon my preoccupied air, hut my attention was occupied by cer- tain signs which appear to one of my scientific turn of mind and extraordi- nary powers.
 Signs? What signs?' asked the Cap- tain leaving the porch and walking down the sheled path to the gate to meet the queer stranger.
 II" Why, signs of rats sir was the reply; genus Mus is here in all It's