Rough on Rats
Rough on Rats
Updated on August 15, 2023
Dr. Cooper is an Adjunct Professor of History, and his research interests include social media's history on society and technology.
Obituaries Were Once More Descriptive
The level of personal privacy and what today is considered morbid was absent in the late 1800s or early 1900s. When someone died, it was not uncommon for the newspapers to print the manner of death for the interested reader. The more spectacular the end, the more interest was garnered by the newspaper. A quick scan of newspaper obituaries from this era shows all manner of death. For example, the paper may list “John Smith, who jumped from a building” or “John Smith, who died jumping in front of a train.” In increasingly more cases from the 1890s, the obituary might read “John Smith, Rough on Rats” without explanation. Other than making an exciting punk rock band name, “Rough on Rats” does have a meaning that the reader would have understood during this time.
Tuesday May 14 1889 Suicide Obituary
14 May 1889 - SUICIDE BY TAKING "ROUGH ON RATS." - Trove
An enquiry into the cause of the death of Duncan McCulloch, who died at the Adelaide Hospital on Sunday from taking " Rough on Rate," was held by Mr. Coroner Whittell at ...
Ephraim Wells
Explaining “Rough on Rats” as a manner of death began in the early 1870s. Selling his medicines and poisons retail from a storefront, Ephraim Wells barely broke even and considered bankruptcy. The storefront was not full of customers, and it was full of rats! Using chemicals, including arsenic, in his shop, he concocted a mixture to kill the rats overrunning his shop. 18972 In 1872, his wife observed the gruesome death rats experienced while working in the shop. Exclaiming to him in a joke that his new poison was rough on rats, Wells found the name for his new product, “Rough on Rats! Cleverly patenting the title, he closed the retail shop and started advertising his new product to be sold through the mail.
Dyspepsia
Source
Mother Swan’s Worm Syrup
Wells set out to create advertising for his new product and initially featured pictures of wide-eyed cats looking at the product with the caption, Our Occupation Gone! Within a year, Wells marketed “Rough on Rats” through imaginative advertising worldwide. “Rough on Rats” became so popular that Wells tried to capitalize on other products using the same catchy name. “Rough on Corns” and “Rough on Toothache” were two products Wells manufactured in Jersey City, New Jersey, along with “Skinny Men Health Renewer” and “Mother Swan’s Worm Syrup.” Although successful, Wells’ other products failed to rise to the success of “Rough on Rats.”
Worldwide Popularity
By the early 1900s, “Rough on Rats” was sold worldwide, with Wells spending over $70,000 a year on advertising. He expanded into the music publishing business and created a simple song for “Rough on Rats.” Jack London mentions “Rough on Rats” in “That Spot” and The Mutiny of the Elsinore. Wells expanded his advertising to state that “Rough on Rats” would kill any pest in the house, including bed bugs, roaches, and flies. Cheap and readily available, “Rough on Rats” was found on the shelves of even the poorest consumers.
Catchy Jingle
R-r-rats! Rats! Rats!
“Rough on Rats,”
Hang your dogs and drown your cats;
We give a plan for every man,
To clear his house with “Rough on Rats.”
Suicide by Rat Poison
“Rough on Rats” became a worldwide best-selling product. Unfortunately, unrest followed the success. The popularity of “Rough on Rats” created one drawback anywhere it was sold: besides the death of millions of rats around the world. By the early 1900s, “Rough on Rats” increasingly became the preferred method for suicides in the lower classes. Suicide deaths rose during the early 20th century, with poising the leading cause. Although no statistical data has been compiled, “Rough on Rats” was mentioned frequently in every newspaper across the globe during the early 20th century as a manner of death. In addition, “Rough on Rats” contributed to numerous accidental deaths. “Rough on Rats” increasingly became a means of murder worldwide. American slang in the early 1900s included “Rough on Rats” to mean someone in a challenging situation or down on his luck. After the death of Wells in 1913, “Rough on Rats” remained available until the 1950s.
From Rats to Syphilis
The popularity of arsenic rose through the late 1900s and eventually found its way into contaminating numerous food sources. Seafood, especially bivalves, were most susceptible to arsenic runoff. Farmers used arsenic in large quantities to rid crops of unwanted pests. Lumber companies used arsenic as a wood preservative in outdoor structures. During World War II, an arsenic derivative, Arsphenamine, was used to cure syphilis successfully. Arsenic production was eventually discontinued in the United States and is no longer used in domestic products, although it is still used in some industrial manufacturing processes.
“Rough on Rats” may no longer be on your local hardware store shelf or be part of American slang, but the lasting impact of “Rough on Rats” has increased over the previous decade with genealogists discovering the manner of death of distant relatives.
Salvarsan
Early Solution | Science History Institute
In the 19th century arsenic was often the poison of choice for murderers. In the early 20th century its image was redeemed when an arsenic derivative became the salvation of those suffering from syphilis.