The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-07-18
DAN niTcaelL's CLOSE CALL.
he Believes Coal oil Saved III. Life. Ewes
20 II Did Not lnrr His Ixfdresk

he Believes Goal oil Saved III. Life. Esea
10 II Did Not Cure His li@idne~x-
Before Dan Mitchell, one of the hcst
known men in northwestern Pennsyl-
wanna, vas appointed captain Of police
In Erie. he was resident Of the OIL
country. While prospecting for pc
troleum he had the nasrowest escape
OF his life, and he has had many close
calls IN the past twenty years. This
adventure with q rattlcsnaGc in We
mango led him 10 remove 10 Eric,
where there are no venemous serpents.
il being popularity OF Erie county
thai rattler was never seen on the
slope between The highest elevation
and the lake. All the rattlesnakcs arc
on the southern slope OF the watershed.
Mr.. Mitchell had 10 60 on foot
through Wild part OF Venango, his
horse having been stolen the night
before. The keeper OF the little log
hotel from which he started warned
him TO look out for snakes, and he
took the precautiou 10 encasc his legs
in thick leather boots that were sup
POSED to be fang proof II was ex-
/ tremely hot, and Mr.. M.tchell's cloth
/ ing was wet with perspiration after an
hours erowding through the tangle
of bushes and climbing over rocks.
| When he came TO stony road lead
ing around the hill he found n spring
boiling from under ledge of stone. 1t
was surrounded by fringe of bushes,
through which there was an opening
just large enough for the admission of
| a mans head. Mr. Mitchell was so
| tired and heated that he had no
thought. of snakes, and he thrust his
head into the hole. When he had
cooled his face and quenched his
thirst ct the spring he resumed his
walk with sigh of satisfaction.
He had hardly turned the corner of
& projecting bowlder as large as a
cabin when he heard a frightful
scream. Going back, no saw a hor-
rible sight. A peddler had stopped
for drink as had Mr.. Mitchell. When
his lips touched the water a great rat
tlesnake buried its fangs in the mans
neck As he jerked himself out of the
reptiles lurking place he dragged the
allied that he was doomed, as the poi
son was being carried through his
body more swiftly because the venom
had entered near the jugular vein. AS
Mr.. Mitchell came in sight the peddler
was shrieking and praying. The snake
remained at the edge of the spring, as
: though determined to fight against
further intrusion, and, catching sight
of it, the peddler shouted:
Curse you'll I'll kill you before l
die"
He grasped the snake as he spoke
and received second bite on the
hand. In his frenzy he tore the snake
asunder, ground the head beneath his
heel, and fell to the ground.
The scene described had not occu-
pied two minutes Mr.. Mitchell was
at his side as quickly as possible, and
held whiskey flask to the mouth OF
the PROSTATE man, whose body was
already beginning to swell. The
liquor did no good. In five minutes
the peddler was dead. SO quickly had
the poison worked There was moth.
ing On the peddler by which he could
be identified In his pack was let
ter signed Nellie" evidently having
been written by the daughter of the
dead man. The body was buried nea,
the place, which since then has been
known by Venango people as dead
Mans Spring"
Mr.. Mitchell believes that had his
hair not been oiled with preparation
of petroleum he would have been bit
ten instead of the pcddler, as the
snake must have been in the mating
/ of bushes when he bathed his face
His theory is that the reptile had 6
dislike of the oil, and refused te
strike, and he is convinced that petro
leum saved his life, even if it failed te
cure his badness. New York Sun.
No Faded photographs.
The fading and following of photo
graphs after they have reached Ger
tain age has long been reproach t
that method of printing from
the negative which is known a
silver printing Oh albuminized pap
err, and to q great extent that meth
, cd has of late years been super
l seeded by others which are more pei
: manent in their results. The last ney
method of this kind is that just intro
duced by Mr.. Valentine Blanchard
and which he calls the platinum blac.
process In this system the picture
+ printed on silver prepared paper (no
albuminized), and the imageis change
to permanent platinum by after treat
ment with a salt of that metal. From
specimens which we have seen wepre
dict great future for this process
y 1t is especially adapted to the wants @
e amateurs, whose troubles in photogra
ply generally begin when they begi
t printing from their negatives. Chan