The Osceola times., 1884-11-15
STORIES ABOUT TARANTULAs.
The Qaestion Whether Their Bite Is Fatal
Discussed


day, and exhibited it for a nickel At
tie hotel that evening some ofthe oldest
inhabitant. got to talking about spiders
end such things. One man said il was
well-establlshed fact toat nobody had
ever been killed by the bite of taran.
tula or a centipede. This brought out a
chorus Of voices III dissent. Nearly ev-
orybody 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 prospectols. 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 40 attention to
them. 1t was chilly, and we had blaz-
ing fire. Some time in the night Gus
Peterson startled us witt an unelrthly
yell, and, running to him, We found that
he was in 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 a top. Then
he would straighten out stiff for a min
ute, and we'd think he was dead, but
pretty soon ne woulu 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 snake or tarantuia.
"Did youever see tarantula?" asked
of the crowd.
Zone 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-lik,
dice boxes, with the remark: What the
devil are these things, boys?' As h,
held it up the cover lifted, and out crawl
ed a spider with five or six legs two
inches long. He gave yell, and we al
ran.
That's tarahtula, sure said IN,
man who had seen one dead. After
while we crept back to the camp an,
found that We had slept in regula
nest of them. They live in these it'll,
boxes. which they make with astonish
ing precision. The cover to the box i
nicely hung on hinges, and can be raisec
by the tarantula from the inside yer,
easily. After he makes his exit it fall
back into place. fitting so snuggly that /
all looks like one piece. When he want
TO get in he raises it with one of his f el
ers, and then lets it down after he ha
entered. They are v,ry knowing ami
mails and there can't any one tell me tha
their sting is not fatal, for I've seen it,"
A Mexican then said he once saw
man who had been bitten by tarantul
in Sonora cured by dosing him witl
whisky I'VE happened to havea Jug,
he said, alphabetically, "and when "
made up our minds what the trouble wa
we poured the whisky down him. III
was a Mexican and it did him good. a
first he appeared as # he had the delir
um tremens, but after We had filled hin
full he went to sleep, and when he cam
to himself again he was out OF pain. ii
never was any good after that, though
He was kind of lame and rickety an
his mind was little unbalanced. som
time after that he killed a man, but the
To- him 90 because he had tarantu
bite and was not responsible. That
the only time II at ] ever knew anythn
20 save man who had been bitten.
knew a man who died insanity ali
three or four others suffered IN variol
ways until death relieved them. "
tried to make one them believe tn
he was soaring himself TO death. That
what some fellows try to say about the
things, but it's all bosh. A tarantu
bite in Mexico means all the whlsl
the victim can hold, and no Mexics
will die under such circumstances II
can ielpit
"Pll tell you what makes some peop
believe that tarantulas and centlped
can't hurt anybody. Every little VIII
in Mexico some fellow who is nigh
drv makes tremendous fuss about, |
ing bitten, and after he bas been dos
with free whisky for few days he
overs. Now, the truth is that the
dead beats we're not bitten at all. Not
inc moves the sympathy of 2 Mexic
like tarantula bite, and ! am sorry
saw that frauds take advantage OF u
very frequently"
The last man who spoke said he KIN
of A case in Grass Valley, Cal, where
man was bitten on the arm by a cer
pede, and took to his bed never TO !,
again. When it became obvious U
something must be done to save nus
surgeon cut the arm off. For U
he seemed to be suffering only from
ampu,ation, but the poison at length
peared in the other arm, and that
was ampu,ated. He fingered fora Il
time in pain. and finally died very ;
denly one day, the poison having yea =
ed his heart Tombstone Cor l. .
They Drove Him In.