Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-08-11

Il
new cases were reported.
It is to be distinctly understood tina
not all rats are harmful. Every coun'
try has certain species which do no
damage, but in many cases have
certain utility.
The rat that makes the trouble l!
the migratory one, otherwise knoWr
as the sewer rat, which has beer
evolved by cilivilization, and follow!
man wherever he may 60
Rats of the harmless breed have beer
known ever since history began tt
take a record of things, but the dan
gerous sewer rat is a distinctly mod
ern evolution, whose history canno
be traced back for more than three
centuries.
That 800 years of activity is a rec
ord of terrible misdeeds, and the
amount of property destroyed by tht
sewer rat in that time and the number
of lives taken through the spreading o.
disease has probably made the rat
far more terrible destroyer than all tht
warfare of the same period.
1t is as a native Of Persia and Eas
India that the migratory rat first get:
place in history's pages, and 1t Is no
until the eighteenth century that M
makes his debut in Europe.
The rat got a good start in Europe
and throve immensely for time, bu
then came a widespread famine.
To a large degree that rat had beer
responsible for the wasting Of the fooe
sources, for he had in his greed de-
voured the crops of the field, and hi:
foulness had spread disease among the
cattle.
Having spoiled one favorite haunt
the rat began to spread all over tht
world. The famous crossing Of the Vol
ga in 1927 is an incident thorough!
authenticated.
Millions of the rats swan over tht
river into Europe. Twenty-three year!
later they made their appearance II
Prussia, and three years later th'
French kingdom was made the unWel'
come host of the rodents.
Even at the early stage Paris wa!
aroused to the dangers of the rat in
vasion and met the newcomers with
determined warfare. Within a weel
more than 5000 rats were slain, bu
still they kept coming in counties!
numbers.
The United States was long exemp
from the visitations Of the sewer rat
which seems to withhold his visits til
cities have grown to the size that ther'
will be ample shelter and abundan
food
It was about the time that the Unit
ed States had ended the Civil war o
1876 that the rat decided to be-
come an American citizen. He had t.
make a long trip across the ocean, bu
that presented no problem, for the ro
dent is as skillful in the water as OF
land.
The docking Of ships at the whar
is a favorite time for him to embark
but even if a ship lays out at ancho
a quarter of mile it is by no means
safe from taking ION unwelcome pas
sengers.
In such cases Mr. Rat takes advan
tage of his skill as a swimmer, makes
his way out to the boat, climbs swift
ly up the anchor chains, and gets int
the hold, the operation being perform
ed so swiftly under cover of night tina
not often are sailors able to catch th'
intruder.
Along the coast and in various sea
ports the rat made his appearance IL
the United States in 1865. 1t took fiv'
years to get out as far west as Mis-
souri,. In ten years he had made hi
way to the coast, and hundreds o
thousands of his kind undoubtedly me
death in the San Francisco earthquake
and fire.
/ Now the rat has completed his do
minion of the North American CONT
nent and stretches over it all th
way from Panama to the permanen
ice belt
The outlying islands Of the new worlC
| have been a favorite working plac
for the rodent. and there they hav
wrought almost incredible devastation
In the West Indies, in the Azores AM
in the Cape Verde islands hundreds
thousands of dollars worth of coffee
banana, sugar and orange plantation
are falling victim to the rapacity o
the rat.
One island is instanced that wa
once completely covered with ricI
grass, which kept in good condition al
the year around three thousand cattle
Although the island is half a mile from
the mainland the day came when tn
rats picked it out as a suitable plac
for pitching their tents.
i BY swimming they reached the is
land and took possession. That wa
fifteen years ago. Today there is no
a blade Of grass left on the island.
pair of rabbits could not find nourish
ment on what was once an idea
stretch of grazing land.
The whole island has been so abso
lutely honeycombed by the rats tha
today it cannot be reclaimed by cult
walton. There it lays in the ocean
useless, an eyeSore. a sample of wha
mans foe, the rat, can achieve in tn
way Of destruction.
The rat will eat anything. On on
of the Channel islands it was known
that an army of rats had their home
Curiosity was aroused as to what the.