Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-07-04
vENoMous SCORPIONS.

vENoMous SCORPIONS
Where They Are Plentiful ~ Flies, and
sociable and Dangerous.
IF ever you should happen to go
down into Lower Mexico" said L T.
Stanley. the electrician, land should
notice that your bed was set up on in
verted tin pans as you have seen the
four corners of corn cribs fixed to keep
out the rats. and that the bed lad a
sheet stretched above it. running to a
peak at the top like the roof of house.
don't say a word, but get right in and
go to sleep. If you shouldn't go to
sleep as soon as you get in. and
should hear something drop on the
sheet roof above you. and roll down
and tumble on the floor at the side of
the bed. lie STILL By and by you
will hear the same drop and
roll and tumble. and it won't be
long before it'll be drop. drop.
drop. and roll. roll. roll. and pink.
pink. pink on the floor. Don't get
up; if you do you might think you
were struck by lightning as soon as
you put your foot on the floor. for the
chances are that you would step on a
scorpion the first thing. and the scor-
pion has a singer that he carries for
instant and effective use. Scorpions
are just about as plenty there as flies
are up here. They hide by day and
attend to business at night The scor-
pion is crab with q snakes tail. with
q spur on the end of it It likes to
get in bed with folks. and if it wasn't
for the tin pans on the bed posts it
would climb up and get in with you
that way, and if the bed wasn't rooted
with the sheet it would drop on you
from the ceiling. When you get up in
the morning you will be apt to find a
few quarts of dead scorpions lying on
the floor in front of the bed. They all
committed suicide. After trying
to get into bed with you a
few times, and being tumbled
off the sheet every time, or stopped by
the tin pans, they got mad. and stuck
their stingers in their heads and killed
themselves. A scorpion will commit
suicide on the slightest provocation.
1t has a temper as hot and as quick as
kerosene on a kitchen fire. If one
scorpion is passing by another one and
happens to touch it, there's fight at
once. and two dead scorpions are the
result Put a hundred scorpions in an
Enclosure. and throw a little stick or
piece Of dirt among them, and the
scorpion that is nearest to where the
stick or dirt falls will turn and dip his
spar into his nearest neighbor, and in
less than two seconds the entire hum
dred will be mixed up in the fight
The way their stringers and claws and
legs will fly is q sight to see. As long
as there is one scorpion alive the fight
goes on. for if one happens to survive
the other ninety nine he will pitch in
and have it out with himself. and the
first thing he knows he is dead.
1T is fact that scorpions, or alca-
rams, as the Mexicans call them, are at
certain seasons of the year as numer-
Gus almost as flies. They are within
the cracks of the walls, between the
bricks of the tiles. on the floor, hiding
inside your garments. darting every
where with inconceivable rapidity,
their tails, which hold the sting. ready
to fly up with dangerous effect upon
the slightest provocation. Turn cor
ner of a rug Or table spread and you
disturb a aourishing colony of them.
Shake your shoes in the morning and
out they flop. Throw your bath sponge
into the water and half a dozen OF
them dart out of its cool depths, into
which they had lain themselves away
during the night. 1t is not often thai
you see one of the mahogany-hue
reptiles that is more than two inches
long, but they sometimes show up with
the formidable proportions of five
inch length. and all that it implies
There is smaller variety than the
mahogany scorpion. This one is vel
low, and he is ten times more vicious
and dangerous. 1t is at midday tina
the bite or sting of these venomou.
little pests is most feared, as the ma
tives say it is then the most poison
GUS. The deserted old mines of Duran
go are simply scorpion hives, they
having bred and increased there un.
disturbed for centuries. A few year!
ago the government took Official notice
of their deadly presence and placed
q bounty on them, which is
paid on the presentation of /,
scorpions tail and sting at the
Office of the government agent Many
natives carry brass tube. and in case
of bite from a scorpion it is pressed
over the wound. on which it acts like
the bleeding cup of the surgeon, and
draws the poisoned blood out. A hol
low key has been used successfully il
the same way. Victims of the yellow
scorpions bite have been known to Ii,
for days in commissions, foaming at tn,
mouth and with stomach and limb
swollen as in dropsy. Others suffer
no worse consequences than they nigh
from an ordinary bee sting. Brand,
taken until stupefaction follows is ,
favorable remedy for scorpion bites il
Mexico. ammonia is also given will
good results. There is nothing tn,
Mexican or Texan fears more than tn
yellow or black scorpion of Durang'
except the bloating rattlesnake of tn
Staked Plains, and that is probably tn
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