MAGIC RAT POISON

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2248, 8 March 1921, Page 4

MAGIC RAT POISON

HOAX BY MODERN. PIED PIPER.

By boosting the qualities of a “magic rat poison,” a gipsy burned Drinlavater has hoaxedjnany estate owners and farmers in West Hampshire.

Drimkwater has travelled the countryside with a small tin containing a substance which, he claimed, meant extermination to the rodent community.

His plausible stories quickly* gained for him a reputation as a rat destroyer, and he was regarded ns a modern Pied Piper. He contracted with farmers and others to lay the poison, and in the course of a week reaped a handsome financial harvest.

But his clients soon discovered that, instead of the rats dying in hundreds, they increased in numbers.- Drinkwater’s myth was then exploded, and the “magic poison” was found to be pure bran. He was arrested, and upon him were found nearly 100 bogus testimonials describing his great skill as a destroyer of rats. At Aldershot Police Court his dupes, including Sir Gerald Mildmay, Bart., gave evidence which showed that the gipsy had obtained large, sums from them by false pretences.

One of his statements, however, proved to he quite correct —he said that his poison would not harm poultry and cows. Drinkwater was sentenced to two months' hard labour.