Rats!

[rejectomorph]

A solitary deer visited the street last night. The moon was already west of meridian, but there was still a bit of shade in which I could hide on the porch. The deer spotted me nevertheless, and stood still in the street for a minute or two, watching me. I considered its caution wise. For all that deer knew, I could have been Dick Cheney, and there were no humans in sight for me to shoot.

Perusing the image collection of the California State Library web site, I found an interesting collection of photos bearing the title "Photographic Documentation of Pneumonic Plague Outbreak Sites and Rats in Los Angeles, 1924". There were a number of cases of bubonic plague at that time as well. Most of the areas infested by plague-carrying rats were in the, well, rattier sections of town.

The best thing about this collection is that it has many pictures of buildings which otherwise would probably never have been photographed, and many of the pictures are of back yards and alleys and area-ways and such places that were also rarely subjects for the camera. It's also interesting to know that there was an outbreak of plague in Los Angeles so recently as 1924.

One particular picture caught my eye. It shows one of the many men hired as rat trappers during the eradication program. He looks like a typical 1920's worker carrying the tools of his trade, but in this case the tools are spring traps and a large object that looks like a big milk can (or a small Stanley Cup) which was intended to carry the trapped rats. On the can is painted a most eye-catching symbol. As the trapped rats were in many cases carrying plague, the symbol was obviously meant to warn people away. Yet this was only 1924. Was someone in the rat eradication project uncommonly prescient?

Rat Trapper In 1924, infestations of infected rats led to an outbreak of pneumonic and bubonic plague in the city of Los Angeles. This fellow was one of many hired to trap the rats as part of the testing and eradication program. Note the interesting (and perhaps prescient) symbol on his rat container.

I will go to sleep now and probably dream of rats and of Vice Presidents with guns.

Edit to add this bit of Cheney-related amusement. As a rule, I don't like illustrated T-shirts, but this one I do.

Comments

[goneingoneout.livejournal.com]

it is a swastika, and until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.
dundun
The more you know!

[rejectomorph]

I do recognize the swastika and know its history. I thought it was interesting that it was used in 1924 to mark a container intended to hold plague-infested rats.

[goneingoneout.livejournal.com]

heh, that it is.

[niyabinghi.livejournal.com]

That was quite a site, and I got caught up in looking at quite a few of those, so thank you.

I think I liked "Mexican shacks with new Hall of Justice in background" the best.

Or maybe the Cliff-Dwellers.

[rejectomorph]

The collection is a treasure trove. I was surprised at how much of the area so near the center of Los Angeles was still no more than shanty towns so far into the 20th century. This was stuff that was almost never photographed.

Particularly interesting to me was the fact that the "Cliff Dwellers" photo shows the buildings that were behind the house at 501 New High Street, which was built by my grandmother's uncle (or great uncle-- we're not sure of the exact relationship) sometime in the 1870's.

There's a picture of his house from the front in the collection, too, the rather ornate little Italianate style building. The entire neighborhood was wiped out when the Hollywood Freeway was built at the end of the 1940's.

[marseille.livejournal.com]

Great shirt! Strange label indeed for rat container.
Best part of Cheney flap is IT'S ALL HIS OWN FAULT. Any timely explanation would have done, kept all this to a minimum, but the delay just gave everyone two days of jokes. Idiots. I loved the guy saying, "at least he didn't shoot my good pointer, that's a real good dog." As though all these politicians and rich pals were worthless compared to the dog.