Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-04-13
STUNG BY A SCORPION.

to a man of enterprise and ingenuity
Pittsburg Bulletin.
STUNG BY A SCORPION.
HOW THE DEADLY INSECT MAKES
ITS WAY NoRTHWARD.
A Scared Darkey in a New York Fruit
store-The Old Druggists Remedy-The
..Mule KILLERS" Description of the scor-
pion Family.
A reporter was %burrying down Barclay
street q few days ago, conscious that he
had but a few minutes In which to catch
the Hoboken ferryboat, when he suddenly
stopped at a dark opening, which led into
a still darker basement. Bunches of ba-
nanas hung to the Intel and were fes-
TONED up the lambs of the doorway.
while bursting crates of golden oranges
were piled on the downward leading steps.
II was an agonizing yell, which seemed
to hint of murder and sudden death, as it
burst from the recesses of this dingy look
ing cavern that had arrested his steps.
He had not long to wait for an explana'
ton. Up the steps, at the risk of overturn-
ing the piled up boxes of fruit which OBJ
structed the passage, bounded a coal black
negro, whose eyes were bullying out of his
head with mingled fright and pain, and
as he ran he vigorously shook one of his
immense hands, which the reporter could
see was growing every instant still larger.
sFo' de lawd," he blubbered, else a
dead niggah, suah. Use stung by a rat
tier, / is" To a dabbler in natural his
tory the opportunity was not to be missed,
even at the expense Of losing half a dozen
Hoboken ferry boats, and the reporter
followed the negro as he bolted into &
drug store near by. He found The man
exhibiting his wounded paw to an UNI
sympathetic druggist, who seemed, how
ever, to know exactly what to do under
the circumstances, while the patient kept
up a running commentary of CALCULATIONS
bearing Oh the agony he wal suffering.
Hits a terrible bite, suah. Hit aches me
way up to dat ar shoulder. Rattler's
bites poison, ANTS it, sah?'i' ssThat's no
RATHER snorted the druggist. "Came
out of a bunch of bananas, you saya Well,
I guess it was a Scorpion
"No, sab, hit came from among dem
or'nge boxes"
saThen it must have been a spider or a
mule killer, . said the druggist.
BY this time he had prepared a dose
which he gave the terrified darkey to
| swallow, and then. with a strong smelling
| lotion. he bathed Che afflicted member
| AT this point the reporter took a hand In
Che conversation. aIs that whisky Won
gave him to drink?r he asked.
uNo. Young man., said the old dr,,o.
gist. Its ammonia, and worth a quart
of Ewhisky in the case of q spider or scor-
| pion bite.n
stThen a mule killer Ia a scorniong,,
"No, sir, it is not a scorpion
"Ah, thenn-with brilliant ratiocina-
| tion-tIt's a spider.n
Wrong again, said the druggist. aft
isn't a SPIDER
s"Then what on earth is tip,
sIt's just between the two,n said the
druggist, and the darky havinp subsidized
into a condition of mnte despair paried
by an occasional moan of lingering aonnv
and the store being otherwise deserted
the druggist became ouite CONGREGATIONAL
He was an old man with clean shaver
face, struggling gray hair and keen ewes
which peered at one over the tops Of his
| old fashioned spectacles. This was nv no
means the first case of a poisonous bite he
had treated, he said, since he had settled
in the neighborhood. All around him
were the establishments of dealers in nj,
sorts of tropical fruits. and hidden in
punches of bananas. under beaps of cocon-
nuts or in crates of fruit. were oftan fo
be found scorpions and spiders Of ali sorts
and sizes. Occasionally the men bandlino
the fruit get bitten. but more often the
insects are In a semi-torpid state and ar.
killed before they get a chance to 40 any
damage.
nMany years ago. continued the drna.
gist, 81 was a member of n suryeving
4 party, for, among other professions T have
followed, is that OF a surveyor. and found
myself helping to. Law ont one Of fine first
railroads ever RIM thrn,Igb Flor;da W.
were at work during the cold saason
when one evening, after n hard davis
work. I rode INTO camn on my mnla and
picking up a blanket which was lvino
across a log, I buckled Il. arannd nv
beasts body to prevent IL catchina cold
Hardly had / done so when the mnle he.
gan to indulge in a nerforyn,
ance which would have nut wen an army
mule to the blush. I paid no attention a,
first beyond passing a few ~obiupatory 70.
marks, but finally. as he kent mr.
his kicking and ~plungfnp. T defermi,aa
to take of the blanket and see If a branch
OF thorny immora might NOT have got an,
tangled in it and account for his r-estIasa
ness. Instead of q thorn r found , hrowT
creature about three inches long bano,nr
on for. dear life to the m11le,s heck IN.
~ <ho rh .- n