Omaha daily bee., 1888-04-29
SQUEEZED BY AN ANACONDA.
A Trying Moment for an Expert Snake


New York Times: ITS the easiest
thing in the world when you do it prop
erly,h Hermann Reiche, the dealer in
wild animals, remarked yesterday
morning to an employe who was having
some little difficulty in transferring
eight anacondas from the rough wooden
box in which they had just arrived at
the Park-row establishment to a glass
case placed for their reception in the
front store neXt to the one occupied by
Jess, the dancing baboon.
UTnree months ago n child could have
handled the spotted beauties with i'm
punity, because then they would have
been fully under the influence of the
torpor which overcomes them in the
winter months, but which departs as
soon as the warmth OF summer begins
to be felt. AS the sever snakes, which
had not yet been transferred, running
from twelve to sixteen feet in length,
la. coiled together in a corner
of the box, they looked very
pretty and quite harmless.
Occasionally one of them would
send a muscular thrill through his con-
voluted organism which would stir the
whole mass u little, and now and then
o forked tongue would dart out and dis
appear in an instant. otherwise they
looked absolutely lethargic and per-
fectly free from guile. So, when young
Reiche proceeded to show how easy it
was to handle the South American boa
constructor, when the proper method
was pursued it looked as though the
man engaged in the work hardly needed
the proifered instruction. You simply
seize the snake first by the neck, close
by the head, 'thus," said Mr.. Reiche,
suiting the action to the word, and
causing the serpent mass to shudder
throughout its entire extent. "Then,'
he added as he drew the snake he had
grasped out from the constructor tangle
of which it formed part, when its mid
die shows up, thus, you grasp it gently
but firmly, thus, and lift it into the
glass case, thus"
The snake dropped softly into the
case, lay as it fell, and SO did five others,
each of them bearing patient testimony
to the facility with which the biggest
kind of snakes are handled, when
properly handled.
The seventh took upon himself to
prove the v of Mr., Reiche's es-
tablished proposition. He was not
handled properly. Mr.. Reiche made a
careless grab for his neck and caught
it about three inches below the head
instead of close to it. In an instant the
reptile, the largest one Of the lot, tossed
torpor to the WINDS ana began very
energetically to dart its open jaws in
the direction of his captor's wrist with
very unamiable intent. Mr.. Reiche
lifted the the writhing snakes head
high in the air and seized it by the
middle. The snake resented the action
and freed itself by a muscular effort
that was irresistably strong and sudden,
In q moment the snake IA free of the
box and began twining its 18th form
around young Reiche's leg and body
Reiche, who is we'll aware of the crush
ing power Of of a constructors hug
called for help, and every employe OF
the establishment was at his side in ar
instant. They knew how to act in the
emergency, and in n very few moments
they had unwound the anaconda, de
spite it's powerful struggles, and placed
it in the glass case, where it at once
lapsed into a condition of content, very
strangely in contrast with its previous
excitement.
mot so easy to handle ~anacondas, at
ter ALL" the instructed employee re
marked to his master, smiling. Eyes
said Mr.. Reiche, who looked n littl,
pale, and frankly acknowledged that h,
had had Il bad scare; 1.-THE trouble wa
that 1 handled that fellow wrongly. Al
ways catch them close as possible to tn
head.n