The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1886-07-14
RATTLEsNAKE JIM.
The Curioas Business Pursued by an Ohio
sprlg Of the Law.

The Curioas Business Pursued by an Ohio
sprlg Of the Law.
Everybody in Wayne County knows
''Rattlcsnake Jim"-at least every
person in the southwestern part of the
county is conscious of the fact that
there is such person in existence. To
many he is known as James Jeffrey,
lawyer. Until recently he was prac-
tit;oner at the. Wayne County bar, but
abandoning the legal profession he
sought home on stretch Of prairie
in the southwestern part Of the county,
where with his family he has resided
for some years. The sobriquet of
.'Rattlesnake JIM was attached to
him on account of his propensity for
capturing rattlesnakes. The surround
ings of his home gave him full sway in
that inclination, ~ he has in
vaded the home of the, rattlers.
For three years past he has been
catching rattlesnakes for various
parties, and upward Of several hun.
dreds Of reptiles have boon captured by
him in that time. The reptiles are the
prairie rattlesnakes or massasauges,
very poisonous reptile. His mode of
securing them Is to worry the snake
with cane or stick until his snakeship
becomes cowed, which he asserts will
be in a very short time. and then pick
him up, and he will be as harmless as
kitten. He claims that snakes form
the acquaintance of persons the same
as any other animal. From experience
he has learned that the snakes make
their appearance some time in May
and then disappear in August, lying
dormant for nine months. A snake
will not receive rattles until two years
old. He relates that he had frequently
heard that snakes would swallow their
young when danger threatened. but
always was suspicious OF the statement
until he saw the statement verified. He
encountered an old female garter-snake
with lot of young ones one day. He
approached tho snakes and the old
female opened her mouth, into which
the young ones glided with lightning
rapidity. He killed the old snake and
found twelve young ones inside of her.
According to his statement q snake
would be q paying boarder, as one frog
10 sufficient food for year. jeffrey
strongly advances the claim that snake
catching is Q gift possessed by persons
with sufficient magnetism In them TO
make Tho reptiles apparently power
less. A five-year-old daughtcr OF Je6-
rey possesses that magnetism to su-
perlative degree, for she handles live
snakes and likes to play with them and
never was bitten. She takes q snap
ping-turtle and presses her cheek TO the
turtles nose, and does not suffer any
injury. Jeffrey holds that the only,
reliable cure for . rattlesnake bite is
turpentine. A bottle OF tnrpentine held
against the bite. the mouth of the
bottle over the bite, against which the
turpentine Is allowed TO touch, will
draw out the poison, which is notioe.
able - It comes out, making q sort OF
blue fame In the turpentine. Although
jeffrey has never been bitten he has
tasted bis cure on dogs struck BY the
fangs OF rattlesnakes and found 1t in
fallibla IN every instance. Some days
ago jeffrey came TO Wooster. and drop
ping into restaurant laid . large male
rather (the males are black and the
females black and yellow, spotted) ON
the Ao0r. 4 skirmish among the occu.
pants of the room occurred and since
Thea his presen6@ onyWtnee causes an
uneasiness among persons near him g
they expect to sse : snske crawl out q
hls poeket - wcoetsr (O.l On. 0iset's'
sG& EnQwjrer.