Singular Avocation and Mode of Life in London.—
In a case of assault brought before a police-court, a most extraordinary character appeared as a witness. The man is by profession a thorough subterranean rat-catcher, for the supply of those who keep sporting dogs. One-half of his life is spent in quest of prey from the whole range of the sewerage of London. Furnished with a bull’s eye lantern, a good-sized folding trap, and a short rake, he enters the main sewer, at the foot of Blackfriar’s Bridge, and pursues his dangerous avocation, waist-deep in mud and filth of every description. The sewers literally swarm with rats, which he catches by hand, and places them in his cage as easy as if they were young kittens. His underground journeys extend for miles. He has been under Newgate, and along Cheapside to the Mansion House. He has traversed from Holborn to Islington, closely inspecting all the passages that enter the grand sewer of the mighty metropolis. On one occasion, an obstruction occurred to a drain at the foot of Holborn Hill. Terms were speedily agreed upon, and our subterranean explorer started off to the foot of Blackfriar’s Bridge, and in half an hour his voice was heard down the gully-hole; he speedily cleared away the obstruction, and received his reward, thus saving the expense of breaking up the roadway. It is not, however, to the rats alone that he pays his attention; he frequently falls in with a rich prize, particularly in the City sewers. On one occasion he found a silk purse, containing gold and silver; on another a gold watch and seals, numbers of silver spoons, rings and other articles of value. He has been three times attacked with the typhus fever, but rapidly recovered on each occasion.