The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-10-08
Centipedes and TarantuIas.

There is an eating station on the
Southern Pacific railroad. and stands
well out on the great Prison plain.
about midway between FL Paso and
Del Rio. Old Roy Bean, who former
ly dispensed frontier justice of a de-
cidedlY original and peculiar kind
while acting as magistrate at Murder
vile during the building of the rail-!
road, owns the eating privilege at Sam !
derson and the liquid refreshing bu-
reau connected herewith. This bus
iness is rather monotonous, and to q
man of old Roy's temperament not
altogether pleasant Latterly he has
found time hanging heavily on his
hands, and to assist him in willing
away the tagging hours that creep BY
so slowly out on this dreary plain, hs
has taken up the study of natural his
tory. His collection, as yet, is small,
but it is decidedly unique one, and
he is adding specimens every day. It
is his hope and ambition 10 be the verv
proud possessor of living specimen
of every manner of creeping and crawl
ing thing, and all those that hop, skip,
jump, run or fly in the Lone Star state. :
In the large glass case in the rear Of
his saloon he has Gagged more concen-j
trated venom than can be found any,
where outside of poison factory.
First on the list is family of cent?
pedes, consisting of giant nearly ten
inches in length, the old fellows SON
and daughter, and a numerous pro-
geny of babies. The centipede is not
a pretty insect. He runs too much to
legs. Once L thought them no use,
but after seeing a lot of little Chirica-
hua Indian papooses pulling cent?
pedes from their holes and greedily de-
vouring them, legs poison and all. I
no longer doubted the wisdom and be-
neficence of their creation. In the
course of my checkered career 1 have
had several adventures with centipedes,
and always came out second best. A
centipede can raise blister on a mans
body quicker than a red hot iron. IL
You don't Immediately apply a reme-
dial poullice of pounded prickly pear
and dose yourself inwardly with post
whisky-which latter is warranted to
kill anything but an army mule-the
resultant effects may be serious. Cen
tipedes usually attack their victim at
night when he is asleep and can't de-
fcnd himself. They are armed with
about two hundred little Iances con-
venicntly lashed TO the toe of each foot,
--of which they have several-and at
the base of each lance is a tiny sack of
venom. If centipede crawIs across
your body, which he'll most likely do
if you will lie down anywhere within
half mile of him-you'll have no diff
ticulty in following his trail, and you'll
remember his visit for weeks. No
man ever died from the bite of cent?
pede, but I've known one to make
man wish he were dead.
In the cage adjoining that occupied
by the centipedes was den of tarantu-
las, whose scientific name is lycosa.
The den contained two lycosas, but
whether they were brother and sister,
mother and daughter, father and son,
or husband and wife, l am unable to
declare. They were about the size of
a common saucer, and were as hairy
as Esau. Their mouths were blood
red, and they each had four sharp
teeth, which from time to time they
snapped vIciously. i was bitten by
tarantula once, and felt thankful that
these two were Gagged. / suggested to
old Roy that it would be a good idea
to pull out their teeth, and he. kindly
gave Luo perulSSlon 10 operate on Inetn
dentally. L declined. The tarantula
is an exaggerated spider, with teeth
and hair. They are always ready for
fight, and will tackle anything, not
excluding buzz-saw. In days gone
by have often amused myself by teas
ing one with a red-hot coal. At first
they would fight shy, but after they
once got mad they would attack that
coal, and never surrender until they
were burned to crisp. l never heard
of anything eating Il tarantula. If one
bites you, use same remedies as pre-
scribed for centipede sting, only more
so.-Ierds Cor. Philadelphia Times.