Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-06-27
WORSE THAN THE STAKE,
Fhe Big Tarantula and the Mental Tortur
of It's Soldier Victim.

WORSE THAN THE STAKE.
The Big Tarantula and the Mental Torture
of It's Soldier Victim.
We had camped down on the plains
of Texas one noon to boil cup of cof-
fee and get bite to eat, and while
Private Malone was getting the coffee
ready three or four of the men
stretched out for a quarter of an
hours sleep. There were seven of
US, United States dragons, searching
for some horses which had broken
away, and Big George" as we called
him. who was a sergeant, was in COM
mand. I was very wide awake, hav-
ing caught sight of a snake moving off
as we came up, and as the sergeant
lay on his back, his face sheltered
from the sun, looked him over and
admired his proportions. He was a
man who stood exactly six feet tall in
his stockings. weighed 21S pounds,
and it was no trick at all for him to
take two of the strongest men in the
regiment and hold them at arms
length or dance them about like pup
pets.
1t might have been ten minutes aft
err he lay down that I suddenly caught
sight of tarantula on his breast-the
largest and most Notwithstanding
specimen l ever saw, and lived for
seven years among them. The SER
geant had on the regulation cavalry
jacket, and it was buttoned all the
way up. He lay on the broad of his
back, arms down beside him. and l
had no sooner caught sight of the big
spider than / saw that the mans eyes
which could see under his red hand
kerchief, were open. He saw the
tarantula, perhaps, before l did. I
turned my head to the right, and Ma
lony, who stood upright at the fire,
was looking at the sergeant, with face
as white as snow. turned to the left.
and the two other men who had not
sought sleep were also gazing in hor-
rOr.
Not one of us dared move. Should
we do so the spider might spring away
in alarm but the chances were that he
would bite before doing so. was only
a foot away from the sergeant's feet
and on a line with his face. and l could
look into his eyes and read his
thoughts He was a game man. He
had been tested over and over. but
never in such a manner How would
he stand the ordeal? The spider had
a curiosity regarding the brass buttons
on the jacket He lowered over the
fifth one from the top for three Or four
minutes. l read in the sergeant's eyes
surprise, repugnance and calculation.
l carefully watched the muscles of
his face. He might as we'll have been
dead for all the movement could de-
tect.
Now the spider moves up a button
now back two. Those shining metals
are new sight to him. AS he moves
down 1 read relief in the sergeant's
eyes. As he moves up again l read
anxiety. Not a finger moves. His
chest heaves as regularly as the beats
of clock.
Now the spider moves up to the sec
ond button from the top and shakes
himself nervously. He is right under
the sergeant's clean-shaved chin. and
not over a foot from his eyes. Now
fear comes to the mans eyes, and l
see beads of perspiration start out on
his big, red hands. He has been
hemmed in by Indians, chased by
hungry wolves, lost on the trackless
plains without losing his nerve. 1t is
going now. The spider shakes itself,
and the look of fear gives place to one
of terror. We know, and the SER
geant knows, that the insect is an
gered, and that its next move will be
upward.
The coffee Is boiling over into the
fire, and two or three of the horses
are looking at us in an interrogative
way, as if puzzled at our attitudes. l
fairly ache to shout-to spring up-to
do something; but dare not move a
finger.
Flash! The great spider jumps into
the center of the handkerchief spread
over the sergeant's face and glides
here and there in wonderment. The
sergeant's eyes express hope. The
horrible thing may leap from his face
to the earth. No! 1t crawls slowly
down to the lower edge of the hand
kerchief, and the sergeant's eyes speak
horror and desperation, and his hands
are as wet as if plunged into a bucket
of water. Now the spider crawls off
the handkerchief onto the sergeant's
chin. and for thirty seconds is entirely
motionless.
The man is doomed. His eyes tell
me so. His soul is sick with horror,
but what nerve to hold himself down
and take the chances! Not one man in
million could do it. Not muscle
moves; not the slightest change in the
heave of the breast. He is in more
torture than the man at the stake, but
his nerve is not broken.
The spider suddenly shakes itself,
inf1icts its bite, and is gone like a flash,
springing clear over one of the other
men. Then, with a scream of despair,
the sergeant springs up, eyes full OF
terror and face distorted, and goes
rushing away on foot over the plains.
We saddle up and pursue, but he
lodges, turns and twists about. and it
is an hour before we can catch him.
Then he sinks helplessly down, and in