Connecticut western news., 1884-01-02
SOME STRANGE SNAKE STORIES.
The Professor in n Museum Exercises His
 Memory and His Imn gination.

Worth, at the North Side Chicago Mu- scum, in answer to question of a re- porter. 'I was bitten by snake, con- tinued the collector of curiosities, "and had most remarkable escape from death. A snake bit me on the thumb, you see, and it had to be amputated to save my life," and here he showed 8 very short stump of thumb on the left hand.
 "How did it happen?"
 "I was feeding the snakes with raw beef, as I had no birds or mice. There were sixty of them in the case from two to six feet long. had no stick in my hand-an unusual oversight of mine and had to push back any that tried to get out with my hand. Suddenly three of them made an attempt to escape in as many different directions. Thinking to frighten them back stamped, shouted and struck at them with my hand. Two dropped back, but one of them stood his ground and raised his head toward me he was a rattlesnake. I made a quick pass at him, but he was quicker, and buried his fangs in my thumb. l shook him back in the case, closed the lid, and sucking my injured finger, hurried for the door and sent policeman after an ambulance and a friend for whisky. I drank a quart of whisky, and was un- conscious in twenty minutes. The doc tors took it for a case of alcoholism and pumped the whisky out of me, or I would never have lost my thumb. They had never had a rattlesnake bite to deal with and didn't know what to do; but the next time 1 got rattlesnake poison in me treated myself"
 "Have you been bitten since?"
 ''No, but Iran fang that one of them had shed into my other thumb a few months ago. That was the first time I knew of rattlesnakes shedding their poison. fangs. I was cleaning out the case and something scratched my thumb through the sponge. I took it for a silver at first, but when came to look at it found it was fang. knew was poisoned again"
 "What did you do then ?'
 "Why, I used rattlesnake violet, of which made an infusion, and 1t quickly cured me. was in the hospital three months the first time, and lost my thumb. The other is as good as ever, you see"
 "Do you know of any other cases ?" was asked.
 "Yes. MT. Wallack, an actor, was bitten on the leg by rattlesnake in this State years ago. He buried the leg in earth for twenty-four hours, and the gravity of the earth drew the poison and cured him, but every year, within day or two, or exactly upon the day on which he was bitten, his leg turns spotted like the snake. A farmer in Tennessee, another acquaintance of mine, was bitten by one of these cotton mouth moccasins. The latter are nasty snakes they throw out froth, and whenever this froth touches the skin it poisons. He made tea of rattlesnake- root, imbibed freely of whisky, and was cured, but every year the foot that was bitten turns the same color as the cot ton-mouthed moccasin.
 ''I know of another man who lives in | the snake regions of New York who was bitten by rattlesnake. He made tea | of rattlesnake violet, applied a salve made of iron root and cured himself. | He was bitten in the ankle, and every | year, same as the others, his leg became spotted like the snake. Another man whom I know was bitten on the leg by a rattlesnake while in the mountains, three miles away from any house. He made the best time he could to the nearest farm, but the limb was fright fully swollen by that time. The woman there seemed to be considerably versed in rattlesnake bites. She ran out in the yard, caught a chicken, split it in two and applied it to the wound. It ab- sorbed the poison very fast, turning green. Then she threw it away and applied another in the same manner, until she had used twenty-one chickens and effected a complete cure. This mans leg, too, gets spotted yearly" 'Is this chicken cure common ?''
 "Yes, but generally a much smaller number is sufficient. The case I spoke of was bad one."
 "Are there any other cures ?"
 'Yes. A maidstone is a good thing. I have one in my collection. It cures rattlesnake and mad-dog bites, and is porous like pumice-stone. When you want to use it dip it in milk or tepid water, to open the pores. Then you scarify. the wound, to make it bleed, and apply the stone. It sticks like leesh for perhaps an hour, absorbing the poison til every pore is full, and then drops of. You clean'it by dipping it in the milk again, and keep on applying it until the poison Is under control but in case of a mad-dog bite it must be ap- piled within the first five days, before the spasms set in, because after that the blood is so vitiated that the stone can't absorb the poison quick enough to save life. These madstones are not believed in up here, because people don't know anything about them. Down South, however, where they are known, they are greatly used"
 TRoUBLED.-Gen.L Longstreet has ex- plained his breaking down in a speech in Woodstock, III, The newspapers had pictured him as overcome by his