Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-06
SCARED TO DEATH.
,c,o end of Tom Herrick, who Had
- been Bitten by a Spider.
from the Neao York Sun.

from the Heqo York Sun.
,,.,.yrPsON, TEXAS, June 9.-Tom Her
~. negro. was bitten on the leg by a
snidpr and died in less than "A hours. AS
lar a. his associates heard OF his mistor-
tnov assembled at his humble abode
Ior,a numbers and proceeded to give
o5vica. An hour after he was bitten
-, had swollen to the size of his body
nnd he was in great pain, besides suler-
ing from fright. ,s.,so,.o,
,psnezer Hill, as he took mold OF the
lla5oilen member and twisted 1t around.
,.5.wav. dab, niggah" shrieked Tom,
ro1line his eyes. "DOan yo' Teen dc soan'
What fer va grab de legW ,
'.1Ston, back, dab" roared Aunty Will
li,s Glowing her way to the 'front.'.
"Wban did de skeeter blteT
pof,rp she got an answer Tom was sit
Ann and begging for some one to go
ga doctor. One of the brethren ran OF,
and the others, now numbering score or
more began to condole with the patient.
,.nn d0ctah's no good, no how said
pJI Cook, with an emphatic gesture
tWb,n old Conkey wah bited on de leg he
;osriz M like err b'lOOn, and de doctah he
conIdu,t do muffin fer MIN. He jest died
~ A. sutfarc alton, and when we kim fer
,er hnry MIN we mad to put de coffin down
ond mil out one of de doah jams beto' we
~o,ild ret it out into de Vaughn"
Al mis- Tom grOaned and rolled his eyes
,,Why doan' some Ob de ladies and
,on,men fotch in de carbolic acid or de
turpentlne| asked 30 Digs heoOel
knew um tan" ,.
,.Fr de rabbit foot" put in Sister Jones
Look heah, chile" said old Bill ThomP-
san with dreadful severity, "doan yo'
come any 90 dat here now. Ef anybody
Easary OBJ de remedies, all right, but eff
dara,- gwine ter be any rabbits loot put
on de patient, den Pm gwine ter put
nuIIet's ears in de soup OBJ ebbery chile Oh
y0'-yO' hear me ~
When the panic that this announce
reut caused had subsidized and Tom mad
croaned a lew times more, jim Fellows
SAID
Three yeahs ago when | was packer
indie abmv in Arizona undah Gen. Crook
oDeob de mule drIbers got Into his blankets
one night in company OBJ tarantuia, and
de mex mawuing he was de mos Curl
ousp-t looking man what | ever did see.
Bekase de bug had been a nibDling OBJ him
all along de one side OBJ him, and on dat
side he war sweled up like de mule daL'S
mn er fodder. while on de Odder side be
war thin and wasted like. Den de Cap'n
beies SCI: 'Heah, yo' niggabs, yO' jes walk
him ND and down ana OATS what We did
for six hours by de watch, and we cured
him, too"
After three or four members of the
party had tried to get Tom on his feet and
bad failed, he lay back again on his pill
low. and Lemuel Washington cleared his
throat To say:
"De spider and de tarantula is no &C
count alongside Ob de centipede. Dat am
de pizenest OBJ all, and dat am de bug
wOt has bit de patient heah. Down in
ole Mexico | hab seen de centipede sting
man dat had a rabbits foot, and ne died
IN two hours and de man who didn't nab
de rabbits foot died in er minute"
Take keer, dab, chile" said Old Temp
son.
Oats what l tole vo' OBJ said Lem
uel, Undauuted. land de niggar OATS bit
wild de centipede has no mo- show dan
de man wdOut Il fan has in de hot place.
Once | see in ole Mexico a centipede
bite a wagon pole, and de mule on dat
side doubled up and died in ten minutes,
ana auOdder time. when | wasn't feeling
well, | see a ceutipede sting a man and
raise him fifteen feet In the air, and a
latin made me well again."
Then lowering his voice and making
every jaw in the room fall as he did so,
lie continued:
And | hab seen a centipede chuckle
to hIsself when be cotched a niggah."
painful silence followed, and was
broken only when the arrival of the doc
tor was announced. As the professional
man entered the room he was greeted
with many salutatOns and conducted
burrIedly to the bedside OF the sufferer.
Aiter inquirlng the nature of the injury
1e dressed the swollen limb and pre-
scrlbed remedies which he said would
bring the victim around all right in a few
DAYS But they didn't. The meeting of
the brethren aud sisters was continued all
night, aud some time the next morning,
just As Peleg Smith had finished a story
about battle that be had had in the ella
desert with a tarantula that weighed
seven pounds, Tom was dead. The doc
. death.