Wichita eagle., 1888-07-08
ABOUT RATTLESNAKES
Er An oesERvANT WOODmAN Ws4c
LIVES AMONG THEM.
a Remedy Tor The Dreaded Bife-Marha
far snake skins and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
MISREPRESENTATION Cusc-A Popolas

for snake Skins and Observation-Disclosures
Kine-Cousampston Cuse-A Populas
Supsr.sssia.-
The splitting Of live chicken and aP-
plying the warm flesh 20 q rattlesnake
bite said sackvoeds resident. who hvea
den on the Upper Shohola creek. "a BE-
hevsd ~ nine ont Of ten Of the old time
a~eiiers aneng The mountains of north
eastern Pennsylvania 10 be . never failing
extractor OF toe veaoEa Of that reptile
have never known personally Of . case OF
fatA pstsoaing BY rasslesnake bises In
human eesags In fact. cannot -emeu-
Der Of single person ever havias been
bitten w'tnan nay knowledge, and i've
within zen minutes waik Of q ptace where
over 40 7tsiesnAses we're captured by
oRe man Ia the spring Of tSSS> and wherv
| can 50 any day and esther as many rat.
tiers IS a customer nay desire Within
the pass 6ve years there has arisen a craze
arnsss city people who spend tbs summer
in the Pike county and other North Penn
syivania mountains for specimens of rat.
taesnase skins asi rattbes. and have nv
self driven prot sable business in slp;ly-
Is<icS astG HEbSSilS TOT tA1AS pisfDSSe
foT three summers | know one summer
boarding house keeper who buys these
things on speculation to sell 10 bis
boarders- furnished him mere than
nifty big skins and IS many sets Of rattles
last summer. and have now o contract for
100 Of the same this season have known
as much as s. 10 to BE- paid for one rattle
snake skin Some fanciers have the skins
stuffed and mounted. and others havo
belts, pecketbool,s. card cases cigar cases
and even slippers na3o from the skins.
after a careful process of tanning. by
which the coiors and luster Of the skin
are preserved as they arc when the snake
Is alive AID ready TO sink his fAngs in bis
aesthetic utiiizer.
Tho person who carsht tho 900 rattle
snakes two years ago was Elijah Potion. q
big. double listed woodman- Hs kept
them sll alive without removing o fang.
and was the only person l ever really
knew to handle live. fang whols rsetle-
snakes with impunity Hc did this daily
nearly all summer at Shohola Glen before
hundreds Of New York people who visited
that place. and ] always Thought the per-
iorDance singular one to DO mado an
attraction OF "A summer sojourning place,
especially as Pel;on did not conceal the
fact that the snakes were captured within
an hours journey of the resort. be had
the snakes IN n large cage. which Ire en-
tered and handled there st will. to the &C
compartment of an almost deafening
chorus of rafting FROM his vicious looking
pets. SIS they darted here and there about
the cage. or coiled themselves in the posi-
tion they always assume when about to
strike fel:on asserts that he was bitten
time and time again. but that he siInTly
sucked oct the poison, and aud not stint
himself as to whisky
There was once another rattlcSnaks
king IN PHO county named Sam Helms
lie supplied himself with snakes from the
same den that pelton got his frern. and
was never known TO be without his bosom
and pockets filed with them. lie died
some years ago Of consumption. and his
death from that disease shook the faith Of
the cid mountaineers in the efficacy of the
rat ilesnake as a curative power.
The high value that Is set on rattle
snake oil wherever that snake is found Is
wlaeiy known have known a. much as
s. 10 be paid for an ounce Of ratrjesnaks
oil. so great was the purchasers faith In
L gs cure for rheamasism. and nany
believe that the oil is infallibie as an In
terasd remedy In all kinds Of fever and in
some places IL is regarded as a never fail.
ing cure for fits II IS ON record that mar,
!, cars ago over In Sullivan county. the
settlers on the cast branch OF the Deia,
ware got together one fall and killed over
| ,2OJ rattlesnakes a. their dcns for the
purpose of trying cut the oil for bottIing
But the uses % the live rattlcE1ake 40
! medicinal aCea; are not 30 we'll known
The father of one of my present neighbor,
suffered some year ago from an ulcer on
ais leg lie dii not sesm 10 receive any
benefit from ratt.esDake oil. 80 he tool
be advice of ~ cid resident. now dead.
Ind carried a live iat icsnako 10 bed with
linl and kept 1t there thras days Tbs
'id gentleman Hl insisted that he was
,itJsn by the srsac and that tho poison
imply counter4cte'i the poison Of the dis
2se that was ~ his blood and drove ID
'ut How true that may be ! do nov
NOW. but II is certain that the mans
.lcer disappeared. and be got wen aud
.ved for several years don't know
whether tho snake died or not. but very
ikely Il did.
Then there was. ard 10 some extent 70
ct. belief that If q consumptiTo should
ite deep into the neck Of live rattle.
make at certain times the disease would
z cured When ~ was found that San,
ieiras had the consumpt ion the live rat.
lesusks treatment was tried on him.
rom al accounts he must have bitten
be pecks OF q whole den Of live rattle
makes. bat consumption's hand was not
tayed. snd Sam Was gathered 10 his non
make biting fathers
Another popular srperstf.ion among
be old resi6enters, and one that some ot
herr descendants believe Ia yet. vzs 10
AIRY set Of rastles In their hats 20 pro-
en-: or cure headseEe AID render sun
troks impossible 1t was also once be-
eyed that II . person bitten by a rattle
make should swallow . few drops Of tho
olsen itself the former would have 10
feet Not . few woodsnen | have
sown always had . Hstls vial Of the
olson, Which they extracted from ,hs
res at the base Of the fsEgs Of rattle
uakes they killed for their oil, 80 De ussd
Iternlly IN case they should have tha
Misfortune to 10 tnocu4ssst ~ . saaks
10 Ia their t,snps threaGh tss woods
II never knew of my Of them having
,cAsiea 30 Csc tbs Alleged aus1dose,
though soEse Of them are 20 be be-
eyed they hare .aksa Yin.s Of tie venom
Irinx their ive4 The snsa1o.e they
ok. gssss. was carried In n.n1h larger
J.;les. and vac purchased Al the ns.xeas
.vera
There used 70 b . man nsr,cd Ger
DO bveS rear Long Eddy. Sullivan
'un.y. ard ~hs claimed 70 have an IN
lijs:s cur~ for rxssissa~ksksses thai hta
-aa3fatscz eesaaned frors The iratzz..
be eo1p>s.fsno 81 The cuzs Wa a secret.
IT Gear -soh 60 ssy dtstsnoe 70 docsoe
,rsoas vho vc-e ss-xks bitten. Es