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Worrying Rats


RichardB

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A Gentlemanly Match.

A wager of £50 has been made by a gentleman that he will find a man that will worry twenty rats with his teeth, his hands tied behind him, in ten minutes.

The wager is to be decided on Shrove Tuesday, at the Hyde Park Cricket Ground, Sheffield, on a stage one yard from the ground; betting six to four on the rats.

All the rats are to be on the stage at once, with half a yard of twine or string tied to one, leg ten down one side of the platform and ten down the other.

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Simular item in Liverpool 1880. By Titus Tango..

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Monday, September 06, 1880;

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I dread to think, but how do you "worry" rats ?

Simular item in Liverpool 1880. By Titus Tango..

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Monday, September 06, 1880;

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Was Fagey Joe a rat-worrier ? Can we find out more about the practise please ?

A Gentlemanly Match.

A wager of £50 has been made by a gentleman that he will find a man that will worry twenty rats with his teeth, his hands tied behind him, in ten minutes.

The wager is to be decided on Shrove Tuesday, at the Hyde Park Cricket Ground, Sheffield, on a stage one yard from the ground; betting six to four on the rats.

All the rats are to be on the stage at once, with half a yard of twine or string tied to one, leg ten down one side of the platform and ten down the other.

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Was Fagey Joe a rat-worrier ? Can we find out more about the practise please ?

Not exactly a Rat Worrier more a Rat Handler.

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Monday, October 04, 1886; The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Saturday, October 09, 1886;

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If ever there was a transcriber opportunity ,,,he he

Not exactly a Rat Worrier more a Rat Handler.

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Monday, October 04, 1886; The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Saturday, October 09, 1886;

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More rat worrying.

Sheffield Jungle

A fine of £5 is levied and paid. The story makes it into local papers in Dundee, Belfast and Newcastle before appearing in The Era (31 July 1864) - obviously succeeding as a bold publicity exercise even if the horrific spectacle of 'eating and worrying rats' might have been a clever hoax.

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Charles "Crowie" Smith

Champion Rat Worrier of England

From poacher to preacher

He preached extensively around Derby and across the UK and visited many towns and cities including Manchester, York (where he preached to over 2000 people), Sheffield, Brighton, Hanley, Castle Donnington (where a new church was established) and London, seeing many respond to his powerful preaching; where he would often share his life story, making the crowd both laugh and cry, bfore responding in their hundreds.

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http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1898/may/23/rat-worrying

RAT WORRYING.

HC Deb 23 May 1898 vol 58 c341 341

MR. LUTTRELL

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to a case before Mr. Sheil at Westminster, in which a man was charged with cruelty to a rat by worrying it with a dog while held captive by a string;

Hansards

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In our own times the word in its literalness means to choke, to suffocate, to bite at or tear with the teeth as dogs do when fighting, or when "worrying" rats or other small animals.

From : http://www.psitek.net/pages/PsiTekRAWTATR26.html

A Gentlemanly Match.

A wager of £50 has been made by a gentleman that he will find a man that will worry twenty rats with his teeth, his hands tied behind him, in ten minutes.

The wager is to be decided on Shrove Tuesday, at the Hyde Park Cricket Ground, Sheffield, on a stage one yard from the ground; betting six to four on the rats.

All the rats are to be on the stage at once, with half a yard of twine or string tied to one, leg ten down one side of the platform and ten down the other.

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I wonder if this refers to "Fagey Joe" ... ?

Lawrence now resides with one of his married daughters. He has had much forgiven, and he loves much. On expressing a desire that he might, in some way, do a little good in his last days, and on asking my advice and direction, I said to him, that when Christ cast out Satan from the man in the tombs. He bade him go home to his friends, and tell them what great things God had done for him. And I thought he would be able to do good by going amongst old men and old women, telling them how he, a hoary-headed sinner, had obtained mercy.

"I am very unfit for such work, but if I knew where to begin I would try," he replied.

"Well, meet me at three this afternoon,, and I will take you to an old man, aged eighty-five, and you can begin with him, for I believe he is anxious about his soul."

The old man here referred to had attended the Chapel for the Destitute about nine months. Every one that knew him laughed at the very thought of old Pinder attending a place of worship. Thirty years ago, placards might be seen in almost every street, informing the public that Pinder would worry rats with his hands tied at his back, at such a public house, on such a day. This degrading exhibition was as follows;—

A nail was driven into the middle of a large table, and a string tied to the nail and to the tail of the rat — the string just being long enough to prevent the rat from getting off the table. Pinder, with his hands tied behind him, caught the rats and worried them with his mouth, for sixpence each; and the spectators had to give three-pence each for the gratification of witnessing this exhibition, — all profits, of course, going to the publican.

In addition to worrying rats, he could leap over five-and-twenty chairs at five-and-twenty leaps; he would fight any man or any dog, and was the leader at bull-baits or dog races. He was a terrible character, had a strong constitution, and now, in his old age, he has the frame of a once-powerful man. But, strong as he was, he informed me that his brother George was stronger; for he once carried a full-grown donkey from Bury to Manchester (about nine miles), without once stopping to rest. But Joseph Taylor (for that was his real name) was one of my most regular and attentive hearers; he seemed to drink in every word, and was very willing to be taught the way of salvation. Meeting him one Monday morning, a few months ago, he said,

"I wanted to see you, for I am very uneasy; your text last night has made me very ill."

The text to which Joseph referred was Revelation xx. 12:—

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

Read the rest ... http://www.gospeltid...brary/3/6/5.htm

The Rat-worrier becomes a Christian (1864). http://books.google....&q=rats&f=false

Not exactly a Rat Worrier more a Rat Handler.

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Monday, October 04, 1886; The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Saturday, October 09, 1886

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