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Show RAT IS FRIEND OF MINERS Workers Warned of Coming Catastrophe Catas-trophe When the Rodents Leave Tunnel Are Fed by Men. investigators of mining conditions and the peculiar dangers to which miners are subjected recently have taken much interest in the practice of Western gold miners to make pets of the rats which commonly infest mines. On the mother lode of California Cali-fornia it has been found that the miners invariably feed the rats and take care of them, believing that the rodents are a source of protection against accident, snys Our Dumb Animals. Ani-mals. This is due. the men say, to the instinct of the rats, which warns them when a tunnel is unsafe. And when the rats leave a tunnel it is almost impossible im-possible to get the miners to work there. This recalls the belief unions sailors that rats will leave a doomed ship. The miners also, have found that rats are much more susceptible than humans to the dangerous gases that so often cause loss of life in the mines. Long before the miners themselves are affected by these gases the rats become be-come sick and show symptoms of distress. dis-tress. So the men keep close watch of the rats' good health. |