Rat Army Invades Texas

Feb. 1920

Rabbits, Too, Are Now a Pest on Many Farmsteads

ODEM, Texas — For the past several months rats and rabbits have become so plentiful that the damage done by them is becoming serious. A conservative estimate is $100 damage to each farm, done by rats to grain and seed in the barns alone. Some farmers estimate they have 1,000 rats in a single barn.

Rabbits are doing thousands of dollars' worth of damage to cabbage and garden crops. It is not uncommon to see Mexican boys coming in after a few hours' hunt with from ten to fifty. One farmer shot four rabbits with two shots in his cabbage patch and killed seventeen in one afternoon.

The peculiar thing is that these pests are new to the country. Two years ago it was a rare thing to see either a rabbit or a rat.


Kid McCoy, Former Boxer, Staging Billy Sunday Role in Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — "Kid" McCoy, former pugilist, is at Marion, the county seat to assist in knocking out the devil at evangelistic meetings now in progress there.

The ex-fighter is declared to be as eloquent in the pulpit as he was aggressive in the ring.

Man Hits Cow, Breaks Headlight

Iowa, 1913

Sleepydale News By a Wide Awake Scribe

Arthur Reed was unfortunate in breaking a head light and fender on his automobile Saturday night when he hit a cow lying in the road near his home. But quick work with the emergency brake kept the car from turning turtle.

—The Correctionville Argus, Correctionville, Iowa, November 28, 1913, page 9.

Felling Tree Costs $60,000

1920
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Farmer's Act Puts Heavy Losses on Power and Factory Plants

JACKSON, Mich., May 20. -- When a farmer near Frankenmuth, Saginaw County, cut down a tree the other day it cost about $60,000, according to officials of the Consumers' Power Company.

The tree fell across a main transmission wire, causing a short circuit that turned loose 146,000 volts that were being produced by the company's Au Sable power plant. Abut 50,000 factory workers in Flint, Saginaw and Bay City lost a quarter of a day when their machines stopped for lack of power.

The factories lost about $52,000 in "dead" time, it is estimated, and the Consumers' Company fixes its loss at $8,000 in damage to equipment.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.