, 1888-07-03
ABOUT RATTLESNAKES.
BY AN oesERvANT WooDMAN WHO
LIVES AMONG THEM.

A Remedy for the Dreaded BIte-MIarket
for Snake Skins md Observation-Disclosures
Kings-Consumption Cure-A Popular
Observation-Disclosures.
1.-The splitting of a live chicken and ap-
plying the warm flesh to a rattlesnake
bite, said a backwoods resident, who lives
almost within gunshot of a rattiesnaks
den on the Upper Shohola creek, els be-
heved by nine out OF ten of the old time
jewellers among the mountains of north
eastern Pennsylvania to be q never failing
extractor of the venom of that reptile. I
have never known personally of a case Of
fatal poisoning by rattlesnake bites in
human beings. In fact, / cannot remem-
Der Of q single person ever having been
bitten within my knowledge, and I live
within ten minutes walk of a placewhere
over 200 rattlesnakes were captured by
one man In the spring of 1886, and where
lean go any day and gather as many rat
tiers as a customer may desire. Within
the past five years there has arisen q craze
among city people who spend the summer
In the Pike county and other North Penn
sylvania mountains for specimens of rat
tlesnake skins and ~rattles, and 1 have N.Y.
self driven a~profitable business In supply
ing hides and buttons for that purpose
for three / know one summer
boarding house keeper who buys these
things on speculation to sell to his
boarders. 1 furnished him moro than
fifty big skins and as many sets of rattles
last summer, and have now q contract for
100 OF the same this season. l h~aveknown
as much as $500 to be paid for one rattle
snake skin Some fanciers nave the skins
stuffed and mounted, and others have
belts. pocketbooks, card cases, cigar cases
and even slippers made from the skins,
after a careful process of tanning, by
which the colors and luster Of the skin
are preserved as they are when the snake
is alive and ready to sink his fangs In his
aesthetic u~tilizer.
1.-The person who caught the 200 rattle
snakes two years ago was Elijah Pelton, a
big. double listed ~woodman. He kept
them all alive without removing n fang,
and was the only person / ever really
knew to handle live, fang whole rattle
snakes with impuntty. He did this daily
nearly all summer at Shohola Glen before
hundreds Of New York people who visited
that place, and / always thought the per-
Torrance a singular one to be made an
attraction of a summer sojourning place,
especially as Pelton did not conceal the
fact that the snakes were captured within
an hours journey of the resort. He had
the snakes in a large cage, which he en-
tered and handled there at will, to the ac-
compartment of an almost deafening
chorus of rafting from his vicious looking
pets. as they darted here and there about
the cage, or coiled themselves in the posi-
tion they always assume when about to
strike. Pelton asserts that he was bitten
time and time again, but hat he simply
sucked out the poison, and did not stint
himself as to whisky.
There was once another rattlesnake
king In Pike county named Sam Helms.
He supplied himself with snakes from the
same den that Pelton got his from, and
was never known to be without his bosom
and pockets filed with them. He died
some years ago of consumption, and his
death from that disease shook the faith of
the old mountaineers In the efficacy of the
rattlesnake as a curative power.
1.-THE high value that is set on rattle
snake oil wherever that make Is found is
widely known | have known as much as
50 to be paid for an ounce of rattlesnake
oil, 30 great was the purchasers faith in
1t as a cure for rheumatism, and many
believe that the oil is infallible as an in
ternal remedy in all kinds of fever, and In
some places 1t Is regarded as q never fail
ing cure for fits. Ills on record that many
years ago. over in Sullivan county, the
settlers on the east branch of the Della
ware got together one fall and killed over
1,2OO r~attlesnakes at their dens for the
purpose of trying out the oil for bottling.
But the uses of the live! rattlesnake as
a medicinal agent are not SO well known.
The father of n of my present neighbors
suffered some years ago from an ulcer on
bis leg. He did not seem to receive any
benefit from r~attlesnake oil, SO he took
the advice of an old resident, now dead,
and carried a live rattlesnake to bed with
him md liant ~ fhara fhraa dave Tho
old gentleman always insisted that he was
bitten by the snake, and that the poison
simply counteracted the poison of the dis
ease that was in his blood and drove 1t
out. How true that may be 1 do not
know, but It is certain that the mans
ulcer disappeared, and he got well and
Lived for several years. 1 don't know
whether the snake died or not, but very
likely 1t did
Then there was, and to some extent Is
yet, a belief that II a consumptive should
bite deep into the neck Of a live rattle.
snake at certain times the disease would
be cured. When 1t was found that Sam
Helms had h consumption the live rat
tlesnake treatment was tried on him.
From all accounts he must have bitten
the necks of q whole den of live rattle
snakes, but consumption's hand was not
stayed, and Sam was gathered to his non
snake biting fathers.
Another popular superstition among
h old residenters. and one that some Of
their descendants believe In yet, was to
carry q set of rattles in their hats to pre-
vent or cure headache and render sun
stroke impossible. 1t was also once be-
heved that II a person bitten by a rattle
snake should swallow q few drops of the
poison itself the former would have no
effect. Not a few woodsmen | have
known always had a little vial of the
poison, which they extracted from the
sacs at the base Of the fangs of rattle
snakes they killed for their oil, to be used
internally In case they should have the
misfortune to be inoculated by a snake
bite In their tramps through the woods.
But l never knew OF any of them having
occasion to use the alleged antidote,
although II some of them are to be be-
heved they have taken pints of the venom
during their lives. The antidote they
took, ] guess, was carried In much larger
bottles, and was purchased at the nearest
tavern.
There used to be a man named Geer
who lived near Long Eddy, Sullivan
county, and who claimed to nave an in.
fsllible cure for rattlesnake bites that his
grandfather obtained from the Indians.