Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-17
KING OF THE RAT-CATCHERS
MAN WHO KEEPS DOWN THE
RODENT 2-ST OF PARIS.
Uses No Traps-Lures Animals With
His Whistle-Captures Them
With His Hands.
Frederick Lees in the World To-day.

Frederick Lees in the World To-day
Father Henry Dayve. the semi-offi-
cial rat-catcher of the Vile de Paris. is
- character who is unique. not only in
Paris. but in tho world" said friend to
me the other day. when we were sitting
III n cafe on the boulevards. Hes been
following hi: curious profession in the
sewers of the capital since before 1870
and he catches his game not with traps.
but with his hands. He's man you
ought to interview. especially as he was
once asked to go over to Washington to
rid the White House of its thousands of
unwelcome rodents"
This last item OF information tempted
me, and thus in little more than half
an hour, I found myself sitting opposite
''Pere" Dayve. in a coy. low-roofed room
OF wooden house in Belleville.
Yes. monsieur" he replied to my first
question. after taking that constant COM
panion, n short clay pipe. from his mOut h;
yes, sir. it's quite true that President
Cleveland invited me 20 go over TO the
states. There was a sum of 1000 francs
&iw) deposited at an advocates. as a
guarantee. But didn't accept the terms
You see. sir. | was younger then. and
hadn't been married long to the old wom-
an here'-pointing over his SHOULDER with
his pipe stem. NO. | didn't care to leave
her. But had gone TO Washington l bet
I'd have cleared the White House of its
rats within a month. and without the use
of microbes Microbes indeed
Henry Dayve scoffed at the idea of
using microbes for putting down rats. and
when / explained to him that experiments
We're about to be made in Europe with
food containing millions of bacilli. he
could not restrain his hilarity.
Excuse me- sir he said. at the fag-
end OF a chuckle. but l can't help smil-
ing at these neWfangled inventions. /
amt believer in EN- no more than I'm
"A believer in what these doctors say about
rats spreading disease. Propagate cpl
denies, do theyr Well. they haven't done
me much harm. and I've spent the whole
of my life among en- on intimate rela-
tons. so to speak. I've been bitten hun
dreds of times and never been a penny the
worse for it. No. monsieur. rats don t
spread disease. unless YOU XII 'em with
microbes and leave EN- to die under build
ings where YOU cannot get at EN-. That's
why m not in favor of microbes and hold
that my systems the best. the good old
system of catChin' EN- alive with my
and my secret method of calling EN- out
of their holes
Trip Through Sewers.
You can easily imagine what 1 said in
reply to this amiable proposal. One even
ing three days later you might have seen
me. specially dressed for the occasion. in
solid top boots. overalls and cap. descend
Ing man-hole in the Rue du Renard.
My photographer, terribly encountered
with his apparatus. and Pere Dayve fol-
lowed. On reaching the bottom of the
iron ladder. the rungs of which were
Solidly fastened to the perpendicular
walls. the rat-catcher warned us to be
careful not to slip in the thick mud which
collects at the bottom of the sewers and
spreads even onto the walls The warn
ing was needed, for my journalistic coll
league. making a false step in the semi
darkness. almost went head first against
the opposite wall. Pere Dawes powerful
grip just saved him.
Steady there. or you'll frighten all the
rats of Paris away he said. You'll get
used to the darkness soon. 1t wouldn't do
to carry a bigger lantern than this. Now
then. are you ready? All you've got to
do is to follow me al short distance, and
no talking. mind, otherwise we'll catch
nothing. Come along"
You have, then. a method of your
own? Will you tell me what it is?"
Give away the secret of my whistle"
exclaimed the old rat-catcher in astonish-
ment. Not if l know it. It's a secret
profesSionnel, and nobody's going to learn
IT until I'm gone. But / don't mind show
ing you how / catch my little beauties in
the Paris sewers. and if you like you can
accompany me one of these nights. Now,
Feeling our way and avoiding the ever
flowing contents of the drain as best we
could. we followed Henry Dayve and his
Pickering lantern. 1t was Il curious eX-
perience. Overhead we could hear the
rumbling of carriages and omnibuses the
cracking of whips and the shouts of news
boys. All the noises of Paris by night
struck our ears i'm a muffied yet perfectly
understandable manner, as though to re-
mind us that We were still in touch with
civiliza ton.
On reaching that part of the drain
which runs under the Rue Saint .ierri.
Pere Dayve had TO stop to open an ancient
wooden door which barred the way
This he said, lis worth pointing
out. for 1t is one of the remains of the old
sewer system of the capital. 1t was used,
some years ago, for keeping the water
back. Suddenly opened the water used
TO rush along the sewer and clean it out.
But what l want to point out in par
ticular is the way in which this oak door,
bound with iron. has been attacked by
rats. Rats'n eat anything. an they'll
even chaw away the hardest cement. if
necessary"
Sees a Rat
\ few yards farther and we received
hasty, low word of command from our
guide to remain perfectly quiet lie had
caught sigh of big black object In a
corner of the drain, an object with two
Putting his lantern on the ground in
front of him, Pere Dayve took his pipe
out of his mouth and whistled in a very
low and peculiar manner This seemed to
have quite a terrifying effect on the rat
for ii darted its head backward and for
ward. and seemed disposed TO make a
dash for life. But il stopped where il was.
in sort of hole, so the rat-catcher deter
mined to try other means of making it
move. Taking Il pebble from his pocket,
with the remark that he would try the
sugar dodge" he threw 1t in such a
manner that. like boomerang il came
half way back to him. Whether the ami
NAL really thought ii was sugar or
whether il was merely curious or fright
cned, ] cannot quite say. Anyway, out
he came from his hole like Hash. But
not quick enough TO escape Dawes fin
gers. which. with years of practice have
become as agile as cats paw. Pong,
down his hand came upon him, right on
the scuff of his neck. and the next mo-
mcnt he was in the king of the rat
catchers' bag
The first capture put Pere Dayve into
right good humor. And | can assure YOU
We had need of it TO keep up our courage
Tor we now entered upon the most diff
cult portion OF our Subterranean Journey
Inc drains between the Rue Saint Merri
and the Boulevard de Scbastopol are SO
narrow and low that we had often to
creep along with bent backs. almost on
our hands and knees. The space was so
small that rat-catChing was out of the
question. However. on reaching the new
modern drain of the Boulevard de Sebas-
tOpol. cperat :onS We're resumed
Dayve knelt down in front OF a grating.
liz