The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1886-01-14
A Isattlesnake Hunter.


A rather tall and decidedly thin man,
with a prominent. hooked nose and Q
complexion like that of q cigar-store
Indian. walked nervously up and down
the Union depot platform last night a.
he waited for q train east Though
1.-the and active in his movements a. .
boy, he was evidently on the shady
side of 60. His stovepipe hat was .
trifle rusty, and his short gray side
whiskers and mustache shone out from
their old copper background like .
white cat on a backyard fence.
'.Are you Prof j. VesayP" asked .
telegraph boy, with message in his
hand.
II am" said the old gentleman. ss
he tore open the envelope and dis
missed the messenger.
This is an order which would seem
rather strange to most travelling men,"
the old man said, turning to Dispatch
reporter.
The reporter took the message and
read as follows:
mo. Lila VINE STEET, NEW YORK.
Send me fifty rattlesnakes at once.
Large.
ADoLPH KoBRE.
do you deal in snskesP" asked the
reporter.
II have been engaged in catching and
selling them for the past twelve or ff.
teen years"
Where do you find customersa"
''Well, sell numbers of them to this
man Kobbe, who sends them to Ger
many and other European countries,
where they are kept in glass cages a. q
saloon or beer-garden attraction, as
guinea pigs are here Then there is an
old patent-medicine man in New York
who buys a great many of me. He
uses the skin for belts to cure rheu.
matism and sundrY other diseases.
a Buffalo patent-medicine man uses
rattlesnake oil as a specific In some
, disorders. He buys his snakes Of me.
Then l sell small lots now and then for
museum attractions and other things.
I have sold eight hundred this season
and have about IS many more.
s'Where do you get themp"
'.Most of those that have handled
this year are from West Virginia,
Boone, Logan, and Mcdowell counties.
About three hundred of them ! caught
myself, and the others I bought"
'tHow do you catch themF
'sOh, there are q number Of WayA
The most common way is to take up
forked stick and creep up to . snake
summing himself, pin him down Just
back of the head, then with . pair Of
steel tweezers take out the fangA I
always wear a thick buckskin glove
and have 8 stick with q little sponge at
the end. This saturate with chforo-
form, and then have no trouble."
"You say you buy some OF themP
ayes. The natives will catch them
for so cents to 81 apiece. sell them
for considerable more, and rather
buv them than catch them myself"
s'Were you ever bitten by rattler~
'Never but once, and that didn't
amount to much, as cauterized the
wound at once. Though the venom Of
q rattlesnake is very poisonous, they
are cowardly, and will always get
away if they can. Then they always
warn You before they strike, so with
proper care you are not very liable to
get bitten"
.TWhere are your snakesP"
81 have 250 of them in trunks in the
express car, and the remainder are at
wheeling. have q metal trunk es-
pecially prepared for carrying them
and can take them from here TO New
York or even across the Atlantic with
out trouble.
Prof. Jules Vesay Is = Frepchman.
he says. and has caught snakes on
every continent, but finds more money
| in hunting rattlesnakes in Pennsylva-
mia and West Virginia than any other
branch of this somewhat peculia1
trade PitLsbnyg DtsyGtch.