The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-07-23
RATTLESNAKE QUARRY
WHERE oPHIDIous vARMNTs THRIVE.
A Pennsylvania Locality Affected by Snakes
"A Quarry Foreman's Encounter
With One of the Venom
Gus Reptiles.

"A Quarry Foreman's Encounter
With One of the Venom
GUS Reptiles
[Lackawaxen Pa.LCor. Philadelphia Times.l
The most prolific place for rattlesnakes
in this section is Pike County in general
and Laclawaxen Township of that county
in particular. One Of the Kilgour Blue
Stone Company's quarries, on the Haw'
ley Branch, is called Rattlesnake
Quarry" out of respect Tor these poison
Gus "varmints," and as a sort of re-
minder to all who work in or visit it to be
on the lookout for them. In this quarry
and another which is located about half
mile away are employed force of about
fifty men. The quarry is worked by means
of dynamite cartridges, and very often
after an explosion den OF snakes is un.
earthed from their Businesses among the
ledges OF rock. The other day an unus'
ually lurge blast was let off, and the
quarrymen, who were in hidins at safe
distance, were surprised to see a num-
ber of snakes blown into the air, and
upon entering the quarry saw scores of
the reptiles seeking fresh hiding-places in
the lodges or gliding swiftly away from
their unsafe home.
Just before the blast was let off James
JOY, the foreman of the quarry, was re-
turning from the adjoining quarry, and
when within three hundred yards of it he
met number Of rattlers, and, cutting q
young sapling he proceeded to attack
them. He was in the midst Of more
lively job than he at first contemplated
when he accidentally stepped on the tail
of one of the snakes and a moment later
the reptile buried its fangs in the calf Of
his leg and hung on with the gre atest
tenacty. 1t was not until he had killed
the snake that he was able to remove its
fangs from his leg.
In the meantime so frightened was he by
so many of the poisonous reptiles thatnow
made their appearance, that he shoutedf for
assistance and his cries being heard by
his fellow-workmen they hurried to his
side. They took in the situation at once
and after a short but decisive battle
twenty eight rattlers varying in size from
three to five feet, lay stretched dead upon
the ground.
Although the time that elapsed was
brief, still so badly was Joy inoculated
with the poison that the flesh about the
wound had already begun to swell and as
sumo dark hue, while he could feel his
blood tingling in his veins, a result proba'
bly, more due to fright and nervousness
than to the effects of poison. In the emer
gency man named "Humpy" Williams
who probably knows more about rattle
snakes and their bites than any other mar
in Pike County, having made it his bust
ness for many years during his leisure
hours to capture the rattlesnakes alive
now came forward and offered to suck the
poison from the wound. Some Of his fel
low.quarrymen endeavored to dissuadt
him, but he assured them tha
there was no danger, and Il
there was he was willing to taxi
the risk. He accordingly placed his mouth
over the wound and sucked from it a large
quantity of blood, which he expectorated
from his mouth, after which he applied 9
bandagc of his own preparation and as
sured joy that he need not have any fea
in regard to the bite, JOY went to wor
the next day, and beyond a slight discom
future from the wound he has not expert
enced the least sensation Of posion througl
his system, sure guarantee that the dead
ly virus had not entered his veins. Viii
liams thought nothing of the daring ac
which he performed, but went to work thu
same afternoon as though he had not don
anything to excite wonder or alarm amon
his fellow-workmen. He experienced M
sensation from sucking the poison at all.
Williams is not at all afraid.of the deadl..
rattIesnakes that infest this locality an
every season he captures dozens of then
alive with his naked hands. His metho
of taking them alive is to approach then
stealthily and before they have time t
form themselves into coil ready to strik
to grab them behind the head and hold o.
fast. After keeping them for few day
in box he can always tell if they are @
an ugly disposition or not. This he doe
by stroking them. Some rattlers, he says
can never be tanned nor handled safely
, while others are remarkably docile an
, after few landings are comparativel
safe. Williams is looked on by all the me
1 OF the Kilgour Blue Stone Company in thi
locality as a most remarkable man in cas-
of ugly snake bites and is almost ever
, day summoned to some quarry in tf
. neighborhood to attend some poor ma
{ who has been bitten by one Of these terri
v BILE serpents. His remedies are simple bl