Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-10-18
STORIES ABOUT TARANTULAs.
The Question Whether Their Bite is Fatal
Diseased


Discussed
A boy from the up country brought in
a tarantula as big as mans head yester-
day, and exhibited it for nickel. At
the hotel that evening some ofthe oldest
inhabitants got to talking about spiders
and such things. One man said it was a
well-establlshed fact that nobody had
ever been killed by the bite of taran-
tula or centipede. This brought out a
chorus of voices in dissent. Nearly ev-
erybody else had known of cases where
men had died in more or less torment as
result of being stung by those insects.
Eleven years ago." said representa-
tive citizen, "when there wasn't any
such pleasure in travelling through these
parts as there is now. camped out one
night just across the New Mexican line
with party of prospectois. We were
all comparatively new, and we didn't
know anything about tarantulas. When
we selected our camping place we noticed
three or four drab- colored things, looking
like dice boxes with covers, lying on the
ground, but we paid No attention to
them. 1t was chilly, and we had blaz-
ing fire. Some time in the night Gus
Peterson startled us with an unearthly
yell, and, running to him, we found that
he was in a death agony. We thought
he had been shot, and guess he did too.
He didn't live long enough, though, to
get any very clear idea of what killed
him He doubled up like a jack-knife,
and then spun around like top. Then
he would straighten out stiff for a min
ute, and we'd think he was dead, but
pretty soon he would begin to writhe
again. We couldn't do anything with
him. He died in about an hour in awful
torment. The next day we examined
him and found bite of some kind on
his left breast. The flesh was purple
and swollen. Some one said it must
have been a snake or tarantula.
did youever see tarantula?" l asked
of the crowd.
"One man said he had seen one dead
on a card, but none of us had ever seen
one alive. Just then Conkey, one of the
party, picked up one of those mud-like
dice boxes, with the remark: What the
devil are these things, boysP As he
held it up the cover lifted, and out crawl
ed spider with five or six legs two
inches long. He gave yell, and we all
ran.
"'That's tarantula, sure said the
man who had seen one dead. After a
while we crept back to the camp and
found that We had slept in a regular
nest of them. They live in these little
boxes, which they make with astonish-
ing precision. The cover to the box is
nicely hung ON hinges, and can be raised
by the tarantula from the inside very
easily. After he makes his exit it falls
back into place, fitting 80 snuggly that it
all looks like one piece. When he wants
to get in he raises it with one of his feel
ers, and then lets it down after he has
entered. They are very knowing ami
mails and there can't any one tell me that
their sting is not fatal, for I've seen it."
A Mexican then said he once saw a
man who had been bitten by tarantula
in Sonora cured by dosing him with
whisky. I'VE happened to have Jug"
he said, spologetically, "and when we
made up our minds what the trouble was
we poured the whisky down him. He
was Mexican and it did him good. At
first he appeared as if he had the deliri-
um tremens, but after We had filled him
full he went to sleep, and when he came
to himself again he was out of pain. He
never was any good after that, though.
He was kind of lame end rickety and
his mind was little unbalanced. Some
time after that he killed man, but they
let him 60 because he had q tarantula
bite and was not responsible. That's
the only time ttat ever knew anything
to save man who had been bitten. l
knew a man who died instantly and
three or four others suffered in various
ways until death relieved them. We
tried to make one of them believe that
he was soaring himself to death. That's
what some fellows try to say about these
things, but it's all bosh. A tarantula
bite in Mexico means all the whisky
the victim can hold, and no Mexican
will die under such circumstances if he
can help it.
"I'll tell you what makes some people
believe that tarantulas and centipedes
can't hurt anybody. Every little while
in Mexico some fellow who is mighty
dry makes tremendous fuss about be-
ing bitten, and after he has been dosed
with free whisky for few days he re-
overs. Now, the truth is that these
dead beats were not bitten at all. Moth
ing moves the sympathy of a Mexican
like tarantula bite, and am sorry to
say that frauds take advantage of this
very frequently"
The last man who spoke said he knew
of a case in Grass Valley, CAL, where 8
man was bitten on the arm by cent?
pede, and took to his bed never to rise
again. When it became obvious that
something must be done to save his life
a surgeon cut the arm off. For a time
he seemed to be suffering only from the
amputation, but the poison at length APP
peared in the other arm, and that also
was amputated. He fingered fora long
time in pain, and finally died very sud-
denly one day, the poison having reach.
ed his heart Tombstone Cor. n Y. Sun.
They Drove Him In.