Here's one of those stories you run across from time to time that gives you a laugh–and, in this case, also makes you shudder. This one answers the question of a mystery at the Colonial Inn that had plagued its owner, Mrs. Tena Nelson, for some time. The Colonial Inn was the name the Nelson House went by in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. The house, one of the oldest in Kingstree, stood on the southeast corner of the Main and Academy intersection. The story was printed in the October 20, 1933, issue of the News & Courier, making it very timely to post this on October 21, 2020.
The Nelson House, also known as the Colonial Inn.
Source: Library of Congress
"A queer "racket" has been going on in the Colonial Inn here of late, but, at last, it has come to light. Every night or so, Mrs. Tena Nelson, proprietor, heard a noise out about the kitchen. Several mornings she found broken eggs or shells scattered about the floor.
"Then, the other night she decided to see what it was all about, and she caught the racketeer right in the midst of his racket. A large wharf rat was making himself at home in her pantry while he nibbled at the end of a sweet potato he held in his paws. A littler further sleuthing revealed this same rascal had been stealing the eggs from the basket in the pantry.
"Mrs. Nelson acted as judge and jury, to say nothing of executioner, and the bad fellow was dispatched. But he seems to have been the chief of his "gang," for eggs are continuing to disappear, and from others here and there come complaints about the depredations of wharf rats.
Christena Balster Nelson
Source: Ancestry.com
"They are described as being almost as large as a half-grown kitten, and as egg-thirsty as a full-grown dog, and hound dog, at that.
"Now those who are annoyed with this pest are wondering how he got up here away from his natural habitat."
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