A rat that has been prowling hungrily around a Yard dorm common room for more than a week faced a brutal and sticky death earlier this week when it was caught in a trap baited with peanut butter, Weld North residents said yesterday.

After several clues pointed to the presence of an unwanted pet in Weld North 28, James H. Colopy '90 laid a trap Friday afternoon in the common room radiator. He checked the trap on Sunday and noticed something had fallen for his bait.

"At first I couldn't tell it had caught a rat, but then I noticed a crushed head. [The rat] was a foot long from head to tail," he said.

Colopy and Michael R. Gaouette '90 flipped the rodent into a garbage bag with a metal spoon, Colopy said. Then they laid it to rest on the fire escape as they knew garbage would not be collected for two days, Colopy said.

The rooming group first suspected they had a pest just after Thanksgiving when Kevin J. Riordan '90 and William Pao '90 discovered a rat hole in their bedroom. "We

It was cold-blooded murder last week at

Massachusetts Hall, and secretaries are still

trying to recover from the shock of seeing their

normally staid bosses reduced to self-proclaimed

bloodthirsty accomplices to the deed.

But the high-level officials are not coming

forward to confess involvement in this sordid

affair and Harvard University Police will not even

investigate the crime.

It's not often that administrators consent to

murder to rid their offices of mice, but when they

do, no one will take the rap.

Two support staff members begged for the dirty

deed to be done, and one vice president gave the

go-ahead. The body was disposed of without a

formal burial and no undertaker was called,

according to vice President and General counsel

Daniel Steiner '54.

"I tried to prevent the act," said Steiner, who

will not be suing himself for his involvement in

the crime. "I put myself between the perpetrator

and the victim. But I failed to protect the

victim."

Vice President for Administration

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