A striking story of the unique manner in which rats were cornered and slaughtered in wholesale fashion in the servants’ dining room in the Russell Hotel back in the 1880s. It may be explained that the servants’ dining quarters were in an old stone building which had once been the residence of a prominent Bytown family and which served as an annex to the hotel. This annex overlooked the woodyard and stables on the Canal street side of the hotel.
At that time the yard was overrun with huge rodents which made it their business of gnawing their way into the ancient structure and devouring everything in sight. The visits, of course, were by night, and the mode of entrance was through holes gnawed in the baseboards. Weasels and ferrets also failed in catching these rodents.
Two gentleman with two husky dogs were hired to do the job of getting rid of them. With various methods failing of catching them they snapped on the lights and saw stopping the unwelcome visitors had failed. They were racing hither and thither fullfilling their purpose with food from the traps taken in flight. The staff clambered onto the tables, with the rats coming in like they owned the place. The rodents, about sixty of the night prowlers, skilfully wrested the bait in their teeth and looking at ordinary traps like they were infant’s toys.
Blair Stannard
, ·
Ottawa – 1927 – Russell House Hotel (canal view)
– Credit David Jeanes
The rat-holes were in the wood yard. Above each of these holes Mr. Charbonneau constructed slides, to which were attached cords, these in turn being tied to a strong cord which ran the full length of the wall about three feet from the floor and the end of which was attached to a hook in the baggage room.
They pulled the main cord tight, which automatically raised the six slides and held them in position about an inch above the rat-holes. Two hours later, when the nocturnal visitors had been given plenty of time to rally to the cause, the cord was loosed and down went the slides or prison gates as they might well have been designated. Then the fun began in real earnest. The man hired for the job was lazy and tired of the hunt, so his dogs went todo the work for him. Finally they came upon a unique and successful plan, and used the old fashioned brush-broom. It seems that the rats lasted less than half an hour and their entrance entirely at one side slaughter was at an end.
On one occasion, having let several travellers in on the secret, one being a burly Londoner tipping the scales at 250 pounds they invited them to witness the slaughter. Taking to leave the gruesome sight behind them and anticipating to repeat the stories about the experience back home about the nights at the old Russell House Hotel.
The Russell House Hotel
The original Russell House Hotel, formerly Campbell’s Hotel, c. 1864
Library and Archives Canada, C-002567B
8 June 1863
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the centre of Ottawa’s social life was the Russell House Hotel that stood on the southeast corner of Sparks and Elgin Streets. It was a grand and stately hostelry that dated back to about 1845. Originally, the hotel was a three-storey structure with an attic and tin roof known as Campbell’s House after its first owner. Located in Upper Town close to the Rideau Canal, it was the main stopping point for people vising Bytown, later known as Ottawa. Its food and other supplies came from Montreal by river in the summer and overland by sled in the winter.
Published in Important Public and Private Buildings in the City
The Russell House hotel was the most high-profile hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for many decades. It was located at the corner of Sparks Street and Elgin Street, where Confederation Square is located today. The original building was built in the 1840s. Additions were made in the 1870s and the original building replaced in 1880.
In 1901 there was a smallpox outbreak in Ottawa. Complaints were made on a daily basis to the Ottawa Journal of anyone that a local citizen deemed should be quarantined. Names and addresses were published in the newspaper, no matter the age of those who were inflicted. Vaccines were available at the Ottawa City Hall and doctors were kept busy.
In 1912, the Château Laurier succeeded the Russell as Ottawa’s premier hotel. Money was spent on renovations in the 1920s, but the hotel had declined due to age and its closure was announced on September 1, 1925. Some of the reasons listed were the high cost of heating the structure, and the higher number of staff to operate the hotel, compared to a newer facility.The Russell House closed permanently on October 1, 1925. Ground-level shops remained open, but the hotel was emptied.
On April 14, 1928, a fire broke out in the hotel, and the hotel was mostly destroyed. The remains of the structure were demolished by November. The Government of Canada had been in the process of buying the property when the fire occurred, and the government used the land to expand Elgin Street to create Confederation Square. Various artifacts of the hotel are on display at the Bytown Museum.
A chasseur de rats, or rat-catcher, was tasked with catching and disposing of the vermin or pests in a city. He was the ancestor to today’s modern exterminator. In medieval Europe, rats and mice were responsible for spreading disease and epidemics, such as the plague. In a time where people had no refrigerators or freezers, vermin would also threaten a home’s food supply. Black rats in particular would live among the city’s inhabitants, getting into wooden houses and hiding in the straw where poorer folks would sleep.
Because of the dangers posed by vermin, the rat-catcher was actually a well-respected, and very important, position in society. It was a difficult occupation, however, with rat-catchers having to go into dirty and unsanitary places, and handling potentially disease-ridden or rabid rats and mice.
Rat-catchers would attempt to catch the vermin themselves, or use animals trained to hunt and kill them. Alternatively, they could use rat traps. In France, rat-catchers would walk the city streets accompanied by cats in cages and a stick on which 2 or 3 dead rats would be hung from, all the while yelling “Mort-aux-rats!” or “death to the rats!”.
In Québec, the first record we have of rat-catchers are from the 19th century. They were known as “acheteurs de rats”, or rat buyers, who offered to rid someone of the vermin in their house or barn, and actually paid the homeowner a few cents to do so (what they actually did with these rats I couldn’t determine). Others would simply sell vermin-poisoning powders or small spring-loaded traps. Some rat-catchers claimed to be gifted in the art of chasing away vermin, while others recited a spell to drive them away
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lindaseccaspina 
