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Show i Adventurers 4Adventurers 4 ' q41 Club l 1 1r 1N r N , 1 1a 1srw'R a ' ' srw'R srwR . a x ! n < "Rat Rat " Trap " By FLOYD GIBBONS GmBONS GIBBONSFamous GIBBONSFamous Famous ramous Headline eadlme IIuntcr Hunter unter "CAUGHT CAUGHT " AUGHT lIke a rat m in a trapU trapUThat's trap ! " That's Thats ' a pretty-moving pretty moving prettymovingexpressIOn pretty - moving movingexpression - / expression . When you say that of a man you mean meanthat meanthat meanthat that he's hes ' m ill pretty dire stralts-facmg stralts facmg straits-facing straits facing straits - facing a fate that's thats ' inhu mhu- mhu mhuman inhu- inhu inhuman inhuman - - man and fit only for beasts . But what about bemg caught caughtWITH caughtWITH caughtWITH WITH rats-hundreds rats hundreds rats - hundreds and hundreds of rats-in rats in rats - in a trap trapyou've trapyou've trapyou've trapyouve you've youve ' set for them yourself ? That's Thats ' what Charley Mack Mackwas Mackwas Mackwas was up against agamst . And it's its ' an experience he doesn't doesnt ' want to togo togo togo go through again agam , either . Charley's Charleys ' home is in m BrooIJyn BroolJyn Brooklyn , N Y . In 1928 he was working workmg for foran foran : . an exterminating ext'rmmatmg extrmmatmg ( ' concern , and on a day dny in m June of that year he was wasordered wasordered ordered to the Erie Ene Basin Bnsm section sectlon of Brooklyn to tackle the job of clearing clear clear- clearing clearing - ing out a tramp steamer that was over run with ratsTwo ratsTwo rats ratsTwo Two other men mcn were working : with Charley on that job fob Thcy They Thcyarnv Theyarriv Theyarrived arnv arriv . at the ship at ten tcn o'clock oclock ' on a Sunday morning mormng ' . Tho The ThoJob Thejob Thejob Job had to be done on Sunday , when , hen the crew was off ofT duty so as asnot asnot asnot not to interfere mterfere with the loading of freight . The only min m\n m n m1n ' \ aboard aboardthe aboardthe aboardthe the ship slup was the watchman . On reaching reaclung the ship slup slop , the extermina extermJna- extermJna e'itermina- e'itermina eitermina e'iterminator's extermJnator's exterminator's ' - tor's tors ' first job was to get gct every human hmnan or animal on board out . _ - of the " way "ay ay slay . The w witchman w\tchman w tchman ' \ ttcliman w wis w\s w s ' \ is notified to stay in m the open , and andthe andthe andthe the mate's mates ' dog ; was given to him to take care of . ' Working 'Vorking Vorking With Poison Gas . The next ne'Ct neCt ' job lob was to shut all the portholes and seal up all cracks cracksfor , for the work " was as to be done with wlth poison gas , and none of it must escape escapeAfter escapeAfter escapeAfter After that a small batch of gas was set off to test the gas masks the themen themen themen men wore The masks were all right , , and they took their final pre pre- precauhon pre- pre precaution precaution - - caution cauhon They agreed to meet at a certain certam place on deck in m half halt an anhour anhour anhour hour . And m in case one of them didn't didnt dldn't dldnt ' appear-well appear well appear - well that meant some some- sometlung something something - thing tlung was wrong and the others would go searching searchmg for him bun hum . . The three men proceeded to their appointed appomted parts of the ship "My My "Myscene "Myscene "Myscene Myscene " scene of operations , " says Charlie Charhe , "was was " the galley where the food was waskeptthe waskeptthe waskept kept-the kept the - the worst infested part of the ship Shlp After a final inspection mspechon I Iput Iput Iput put on my mask and set off the cyanide cynnJde fumes I started it in m the huge lce ice lcebox icebox icebox box and waited walted until the fumes were thick Then I \ went . ent to the thedoor thedoor thedoor door to leave My first shock came when I found that when the ice box boxdoor boxdoor boxdoor door had . slammed shut the latch had dropped into mto the socket sochet on the theoutslde theoutside theoutside outslde outside , making makmg me a PRISONER " . Charley Chancy pounded on the door , but his two co workers were m in mdistant indistant indistant distant parts of the ship and couldn't couldnt ' hear him . And then , tn in a afew afew afew few minutes mmutes , the parade began . . Rats-hundreds Rats hundreds Rats - - hundreds of them-some them some themsomeof them - someof of them as big as cats , began streaming streammg : out of hidden hJdden corners cornerswhere cornerswhere cornerswhere where the gas had reached , trying trymg to get out into clean air . Crazed Rats All Over Him . ' , I began pounding on the door more frantically franhcally , " says Charley . By Bytius Bythus Bytins tius thus time hme the room was full of gas and the rats began to feel the effects ot of otIt ofit ofit It it . . It seemed to make them go crazy . They began screeching screechmg and andrunnmg andrunning andrunning runnmg running this way and that , looking loohmg for air , biting bItmg one another and JumpThen jump1 jump- jump jumpThen - 1 : / 4 L { I Ih h 'd d 'dw ' w s sThen Then They Began to Climb Cl1mb on Charley . ing mg up and down It was a bedlam of rats , and still shll they kept coming ' Then , suddenly , one of them more keen than the others , sensed a as11ght aslight aslight s11ght slight trickle of air alr coming commg through a small crack in m the door at WhlCh which whichI WhlChI I was standing standmg He ran over to my feet In a split spht second the rest resthad resthad resthad had followed-a followed a followed - a fighting fightmg , snarling snnrlmg , biting bltmg horde of brutes , jumping jurnpmg on onone onone onone one another until unbl they were p piled c 1 < ten high ligh , trying trymg to get their snoots m in mthat inthat inthat that little llttle crack which whlch let in m a bit blt of precious air . " , . And then-THEY then THEY then - THEY BEGAN BIGAN : TO CLIMB ON CHARLEY CIIARLEY . , Dozens Dozensof Dozensof Dozensof of them began begtn begtfn : crawling crawlmg up his legs and swarming swarmmg all aU over hIm himtill , tIll he was co\ co cos cocred coered \ ' , cred ered with them like a lump of sugar in a room full fullof fullof fullof of flies fucs . "Luckily Luckily "Lucluly Lucluly " , " he says , "my my " clothes were of heavy mate mate- materlalcspeclally materialespecially material - rlal--cspeclally rlal cspeclally rial-especially rial especially rial - - especially a leather jerkin jerkln I was wearing wearmg . Believe Belleve me , I Ibegan Ibegan Ibegan began to perspire . \ My 1\Iy 1 Iy legs began to feel the bites of Ihc the mad mad- maddened maddened maddened - dened creatures oreatures and I bad had to put my hands in my jacket pockets pocketsto to keep them from being bemg bitten blUen off . , "There There " I stood for what seemed hours , with hands in my pockets pocketsmy , my elbows tucked in m , and my head down on my chest to protect as asgreat asgreat asgreat great a part of me as possible posslble I waIted-waited waIted waited - waited for the gas to take takeits takeits takeits its toll , but the seconds seemed like 11h.e 11he . hours . My mmd began to play playtrIcks playtricks playtricks trIcks on me-makmg me makmg me-making making me - - making me think thmk the gas was weak-wondermg weak wondermg weak-wondering wondering weak - wondering what whatwould whatwould whatwould would happen if 1f all three of us were caught in m the same jam and had to tostay tostay tostay stay there all night rught What thoughts you have when you're youre ' m in a predicament predica predIca- predIcament predicament - ment of that sort sortl " ' " Charley Was Badly Bitten . , : . Charley's Charleys Chantey's Chanteys ' ' coat and trousers were in shreds . His HJ.s HJs . legs were pammg paining painingwith painingwith oneI with half a hundred bites bltes . , "I'd Id " ' ' rather fight a mad police pollee dog than one oneof oneof oneof I of those rats , " he says , "and and " the memory of ot those animals lingers llngers to totlus tothis tothis tlus this day . " But at last there came a knock on the ice box door , and andCharley andCharley andCharley Charley heard the voice of ot one of his co-workers co workers - - askmg asking if he was In Inthere Inthere inthere there Charley Chancy yelled back that he was trapped , , and the other fellow fellowopened fellowopened fellowopened opened the door . Then it was the other fellow's fellows ' turn ( nrn to get a scare . Rats- Rats Ratsalmost Ratsalmost Rats Ratsalmost - - almost a . hundred of or them-burst them burst them - burst out of that tlut door in a snarlinJ snarling snarlingfighting : ' , fighting mass and began dashing d\shmg d shmg d'nshing dnshing ' ' \ about the galley galley.They galleyThey . They were plenty weak weah by that time , nnd and the fresh air took their theirattention theirattention theirattention attention That was lucky for the other fellow , too , for they tor forgot got to tobite tobite tobite bite him hun Some of the critters scrambled along the deck , and others othersseemed othersseemed othersseemed seemed to go crazy and nnd throw themselves into mto the watpr water wat r . Others Othersrnn Othersran Othersran rnn ran a short distance and dropped It was a great sight-and sight and sight - and just lust about aboutthe aboutthe aboutthe the most shivery one I ever saw in my life We " . Charley went to a doctor and had the rat bites bltes treated . None of oft"tem ofthem ofthem t"tem ttem them " got u infected ected , and he was all right in m a short while wh11e As a matter matterof matterof matterof of fact tact , he was back on the job again agam the next Sunday-extermmatmg Sunday extermmatmg Sunday-exterminating exterminating Sundayextermmatmgrats Sundayexterminatingrats Sunday - - exterminatingrats rats on the same ship Shlp ' ! The be job hadn't hadnt ' been done right and the whole wholeroutine wholeroutine wholeroutine routine had to be repeatedBut repeatedBut repeated repeatedBut But this thlS time hme Charley Chnrley stayed away from trom the ice boxWNU boxWNU box -WNU WNU @ - & --WNU WNU - - WNU Service . . |