The Meeker herald., 1888-10-27
ABOUT RATTLESNAKES.
BY An oBseRvANI woooMtN WHO
LIVES AMONG THEM.
A W~msdy fos the Dreaded Eits-aiarLri
so' Snake skias and Hstti~s -Itn'tis.nsk.
King. -Coa.um ptioa Curo-A, PopuIs
perstittoa-Aniii.:~s.

'srhe splitting OF live chicken and ap
plying the warm flesh to u rattlesnaks
bite, said a backwoods resident. who lives
almost within gunshot OF ruttlesnake
den on tho Upper Sbohola creek. lis be
lirvsi by nine out of ton o! tho old tim.
dw..iers among the mountains Of north
eastern rennsy lynnll To bs u never failing
/ extractor vi tho venom of that reptile
have never known personally OF u case OF
faiA! poisoning by ruttlrsnahe lite, In
human Leings Ia fact. l cannot rea.m
bcf al n single person ever having been
biiiCB within my knowiesii,s. and | live
within ten minutes walk of plaee where
over 2JJ r.iiieanIkes Tofo captured iIy
one man In tie spring OF 1885. and whore
eau "a any dag and gather Is many rat
tlrTs ~, q customer may desire Within
tho isst I've years thsTo has arisen n craze
Eu.gag city Ieoplo who spend tho sunmrr
H. tlin ll.,s county and other North Penn
nylyanii mountains for specimens OF rat
ii-sulEr skils aud rattles. and have riy
Fe.l driven profitable business Ia supply
iug l!drs and buttons for that puffule
To- tire sunmngs know ono summer
. basniius L0uAs kccpe. Who buys these
iAings On speculation To kaiA. To his
boar,lcrs furnished hl;n 4 ~ than
fifty big skins anl a. many sets of raities
iCD OF the sane this teasoi. have known
e. much a. ESQ to DO paid for ono rattle
snake a.Iln some ianeiers have tho skins
slullcl and mounted. and Others hayo
bclts packet bunls. earl cf.sra. cigar Eases
and cvcu slippers I4io irum tho skins
after careful process o, tanning Ly
which the eolori aud lgs;.r q tho tsin
are preserved N they aru when tho snake
Is alive and ready 10 sink bis fgags In hi,
gszii-tie Itll!2.r,
Tie person who caught the 800 rattle
snake, two y-irs $50 was III ah peitnu. a
tis d0abi. laic,I wO1lmau II, kcp,
thea al. alive vilh0u; removing % FANG.
and uas tho oaly lcFaon | ever really
knew TO handle live. fam: whole faiils
snakes with lupun!iy ~ did this daily
n-aIly ell sumEirr al hloaDls Glen before
hundreds @! New YORK people who visited
that place. and always thought tho I,sr
iortnanr. q singular ono To 10 msdr M
a'irlrtio. u summer EolouTllns place.
especially e., Feiton did not conrcAl tho
Tact that tho snakes were captured within
an hours Journey OF ,hs Tvsor, iio l.ad
tho SNAKES la large cage. which 10 ca
t-r,i zn, banded them q; viii. 10 ,hs Er
oonJsanimrn, Of All Himps, drrfcnirs
,l,aru. Of rsitlins from hl. yielou, looking.
i--tn. a. thor laTi..i hurr and ,hrro about
ID. cage. or oailc,i ih.arclvr, Ia the pal
ton they always azsume w.srn abuu, TO
strike rvIion asserts that ho VISA bitten
! limo and iiHi- again. bu, ,hh, ho simply
sucked ogt tic p1isaa. EsiI dill 10, kg!at
himself az to whisky
''Th-fo wa once smother rstilesnatr
tins Ia Pike county uamrd Som ilrins
lie supplied himself With snake, irum the
ssris dun that f-!iou Fui his from. and
ui, mover LnaUu H. 10 without hls b1s1tH
And p-seaei, lllei with them To died
sotne yrarr sgo Of consumption. and lila
Death iro;a that disease shook tho faith a
the old Hl1'Inisin--fa In I'll. efficacy of the
raiil-anh.o a, curative power
Tbs high value that IA &c, on rattle
snake OF! eberes.f tia; snake I. found l,
widely Laown Lay. known sr iageh {,
q To b. tat! for an ounce Of ra;tleana.s
oil. % srra; vas tho purchasers faith Ia
u A. ctr- fof rhegfunit-gi. and f.iany
i.ri.crc that tho oil IA in,aii,b'. a. an u,
some PLAYS n h f.:rissr,isa as a mover fall
ins euro for its IL /, on reosd tia, many
y-sFs ago. over In Sullivan county. tho
ss;,Iera on ii, cas-, branch Of tho bsla
VAR sot together ono fall and killed over
go rHi'l-sHakes e; their den, fas IA.
pt.rIosa OF uyia. oa' tho oil FOR bn;tliu-
''llui tho usrs Of tho llsc rziilcsnakc "a
. medicinal hs.rn' nro no; well known
Tho father Of ono Of fiy rfvartl, nri;l!bpfa
salcrrs! Eone yvarz $50 from an ulcer on
lip lest lilo did no: .ccfa To rvogiro my
tened; FROM fa;ilrsuase ell. 80 hp took
the advice u an old rssidru,. now dead.
ard enrrtsi Iiy. rai;lesnaku TO bci with
him ni.d hcr, l. il.-rp thru days Tho
old r-nilrtlEu always insisted tina; hn was
bitten by rho snake. aud that the rolsoa
simply oountsraeici ;llH ioir11 u tho dis
ease iha; va, Iiis bis Ll1usl autl drove I,
out. How ,ri. tia; uIay 10 ! do not
know. bur u Ia certain that tho mans
ulcer disarpgafcd. end TO so, vol and
lived Tor several year, ! doat know
whether tho stake died or not. but very
likely u did
Then ,hcrr Was. and TO som, -yicn; ia
yet. b-.iri that 10 a euusuupiiyc should
bit- d.cp Into the neck Of live rattle
saEl. at ecriaiH ilurs tho disease wutld
H. cgrr! WLen !; was found that sia
Helm, had the consumption the lis" IA,
ilrsua-~ traiEirnt vaa ttirI on lin
Er1m ri accounts hp MUS; have bitten
the urcks Of whole den Of 1.-Two faiilc
snake br' cunsump;lnula hand was not
stayed and sam was i:athcfp.i To bis ton
snake bitins father,
Another popular superstition among
tho old rr-,licnicrs. and ouc that some OF
,bgif descendants believe In vet. van to
cary a 50; Of rattlr. In their La,s TO pre-
.,rokr impossible I; was also once 10
licycd that " person bitten by a raiiic
snake should swallow Few drops Of Tie
poison Itself tho iorHc; would have no
effect No, q few wood men ! have
known nlvays had ,litic wal Of the
poison. which they extracted from tho
sacs q, the uasc Of tho f-nrs Of raiii-
snakes .hcy killed Tor itc.I oil. 90 b. .iscj
Internally IN case tLry thoulJ have the
misfortune to 10 iuoculaici by n snake
bite tn their trarnps through tho wo,,is
Hui never knew cf any of them having
occnsion to usc the alleged nniido;c
although II some of them arc To- he IL
lievcj they have taken plnts of the venom
daring their livCu Tho aufi1u;c they
took guess was carried In much larger
lo,,lcs. and ~as purchased at tho nearest
tavern
who lived near long Eddy. Sullivan
county. and who claimed to have an iu
iaiibic euro for rationale titcs tina, his
grandfather obtained frbm the Indians
The composition of the cure was n srrrvt
but Gcer would 10 any distance To- doctor
persons WHO we're snake Jiticn lie
claimed to have saved tic lives Of many
people suffering from rattlcanghc poison
G,.f died year ui i've ago. but the secret
Of the ruttlcsunkc euro ia still In his
family II is singular fact that
none Of the alleged untidnjcs fer rattle
snake bites " rIcttual tn case Of roirrn
ina by tho coppcibrai or pilot. -llawlr,
Pa Cor. New iUrl. sun.