The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-08-30
NOT AFRAID OF SNAKES.
QUEER FARMS AB0UT Rites TOLD
BYA cALIFORNIAN CH4RMER.

- - kNAAA EOIANA<1A9
Ammonia and Whislsey Cure Every Time
A Girl Tramp in Trousers-Midse
Babies Took His Dose in Water
Poison Rings.
~ have been bitten forty-nine times by
rattlesnakes," said O. J. l~ronmonger, OF
Fresno, Cal, to a reporter.
Yes, sir, forty-nine times, either while
catching them, handling them or per
forming before the public with them. J
am known as the great serpent charme1
or tanner. / have handled thousands oil
venomous s~erpents, and twenty-three
years ago 1 performed in the Bella Union
Theatre as a snake charmer, when 1t was
managed by Mrs. Tetlow and son
81 have often heard that If a rattlesnake
bites q person, the sore, even If healed,
will break out again everytwelve months.
That is not so. If you are once cured you
are cured forever. | have often read IN
the of snakes charming little
children, and of children feeding them
without being bitten. That is ali nom
sense.
mo venomous snake will eat dead food;
it must be live food that he catches MIN,
self, aud he will not take food while Gagged
up, not even the most inviting mofsei.
They can live a remarkably long Time
without food. | once saw q ratttesnake
In MarySville, in d cage, that nad not
takenf food for eleven wears. l have Kept
many of them from five to eleven years
without food. They will, however, drink
water, | suppose to keep their poison re-
plenished.
''RattIers are epicureans. They will
crawl out of their dens in the spring, and,
ii they catch u quail, q young rabbit, or a
squirrel during the summer they are salts
fled. If not, they will take their drink OF
water in the fall, and go to their dens and
wait until next spring for their break
fast"
what remedies do you use for snake
bltesI' was asked.
81 put an ounce of ammonia into a two
ounce vial. Then | add a dozen or so
leaves of the mistletoe. The leaves soon
dissolve, and the liquid becomes of q red
dish color. Put eighteen or twenty drops
of this liquid into a tumbler half full or
water, and drink it as soon as you can
after being bitten. Then drink a pint OF
whiskey. After that you must wait afteen
or twenty minutes. and II you feel no
signs of inebriation repeat the dose; but
the moment you feel the effects of the
Whiskey, drink no more, but you may
take another dose of the ammon1ated
liquid.
"Some people, when bitten by a snake,
keep pouring down whisky until they get
thoroughly drunk, but in such cases the
remedy is worse than the disease. Those
who know me say that / 4 am poison-proof,
but that is not true, while at the same
time O snake bite that would kill some
men would injure me very little. Harm
less snakes are all gourmands and want
to be swallowing all the time"
GGTA% - I-l.z---H AI,A -~Al-A m Knpai-
nate Or charm other animals?" asked the
reporter.
"That is an error" was the reply. mo
serpent has that faculty. Every animal
has its own instructive way of taking its
prey-by stealth, agility, brute force, or
strength. My experience during the last
forty years confirms my belief. ! have
often heard birds making a great noise in
q swamp, and | used to say:-'There's a
snake charming a bird. / would go
down there to see what wa going on, and
sure enough there would be a black a
going along slowly from one branch OF a
tree to another. There would be d cat
bird or some other kind of a bird flying
around the snake, greatly excited, while
the snake moved along slowly toward a
nest to rob it of its young.
1.-THE maternal instinct of the mother
bird makes her forget the danger in q
great measure. So she flies around and
over the snake and futters along just
ahead of him, trying to lead him in an OPP
posite direction, but all to no purpose, and
as he comes near the nest She becomes
more desperate.
"i5he pecks at his eyes, beats him with
her wings, and like a flash he grabs her,
for he would as SOON have her as the
young, because she is a larger mOuthful,
if not SO delicious.
"She was not s~peIlbonnd; she had all
AIA 1Haa @f 1Au a111a14a A-1 oil lnnua
him at her will.
"At the Sacramento State Fair some
twenty odd years ago / was bitten by a
RATHER in the bowels and he left his fangs
behind. / performed in the tent until
nine O'Clock at night. In closing up / felt
around my person and pulled all of the
snakes out OF my bosom, as thought,
but | overlooked one. / went around the
town to see the sights, playing a game Or
two, and started for my hotel.
sit was called the Orc then, but the
name is changed now. Then | threw my
self across the bed and the first thing I
knew | was bitten. / was smothering
him. | grabbed him by the head through
my shirt and gave him a twist. Hence l
broke his fangs. I held him up to the
moonlight and found him to be a favorite
of mine.
81 had no remedies with me and the
drug stores were shut up at that hour.
AT last | found a doctor named Logan,
who gave me u bottle of whiskey n
twenty-five drops of ammonia, and | was
soon all right, but the fangs remained in
me. | began to grow sick at last and the
wound had to be opened afresh and the
fangs extracted. 1t was three months
after / was bitten that the network of fat
that covers the bowels began to infiame
and it came near killing me,
~ have not said anything about
t%arantulas, scorpions aud centipedes, but
they are all in my line. | have been
stung by all of them and | use the same
remedy."-baeSno Republican.
A Sweet Girl Tramp.
A girl tramp, wearing male attire, was
arrested in Cincinnati one day this week
on suspicion of being a crook. At the
station house she told this story of her
,life:-"I came here from Indianapolis on
a freight train, Rode all day on the
bumpers. I've been q tramp for two
years, working when | had to, and beg
ging a living when It was possible. |
never had a home and never lived in a
house. My father was a horse-trader and
peddler, and travelled all over the coun-
try in a wagon with my mother and my
self. l suppose / was born in a
wagon, as / never knew what it
road | took to wearing mems clothes for
convenience, and have kept it mp ever
since. About two years ago, near Vim
cennes, my mother died from old z
yfather sold his outfit to pay the doctors
bill, and soon died himself. / was left
alone and had to strike out for myself. So
pve been tramping ever since. I've no