Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-16
POIS0NS OF SAVAGES.
Secret of the Arrows that Are Tipped
with Deaths Essence.
PUTREFYING HUMAN FLESH USED.
A South American Priest Whose Process
Puzzles the Scientists.
DEADLY sERPENTs USED FOB MURDER
lwnrrrnN Eon rHr p1srArcn. ,

WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.1
There is in India little serpent, only few
inches long. called echys carinata, which is
SO horribly venomous that its bite is capable
OF causing death in two or three seconds.
Not single case is known of recovery from
the bite of echys, where the snake has struck
its victim on the bare flesh, without any
fabric intervening; but in most instances the
sufferer has been paralyzed with intense
agony almost instantaneously, the blood has
coagulated in the veins and spasm of the
heart has terminated the existence almost
before any remedy could be even attempted.
In British India alone, it is shown by
carefully collected statistics that more than
10000 persons are destroyed annually by
wild beasts, including snakes, and more
than four-fiths of the casualties are attrib-
uted to the latter. 1t is well known, too,
that snakes are employed among the natives
to terrible extent for purposes of secret
murder. A deadly serpent, such as the
echys, or the more notorious, but really less
formidable, corbra, is so confined in a hol-
| low bamboo cane that its head lust
barely protrudes at the end; and
the assassin, carrying this iisbolical
weapon, which looks like q harmless
walking staff, in his hand, approaches his
enemy quite unsuspected, and touching him
unawares with the end Of the staff, causes
the snake to plunge its lethal fangs into his
defenseless flesh The victim is found dead,
| perhaps, on his couch or divan, or in a chair
at table, or seated in some lovely secluded
garden, where his treaeherous foe and he
may have retired together to enjoy the
shade and the perfume His death is set
| down to snnstroke or fever, or any other of
that country; and, in accordance with the
local custom, his body is hurriedly re-
duced to ashes or consigned to the public
receptacle for the dead, be.ore any inquiry
can be made.
DEATH IN A BATH TANK.
A friend Of mine, who occupied an i'm
portant consular post at Singapore, had a
very narrow escape from death like this:
He had Malay house steward who alone
had access to his bedroom. This man was
apparently most devoted to him, but the
wife of one of the underservants having
complained that the steward had offered her
an affront, the Consul had severely repri-
manded him and forbidden him to speak to
the woman again on pain of dismissal. The
ceedingly early riser, left his couch at the
frst rays of dawn. and went as usual to
the marble tank in the recess from his bed
room, where he always began his toilet with
shower bath. He was on the point of
stepping into the tank, when his attention
was attracted by something glittering in the
half-darkness. He stepped back and drew
aside the lattice, admitting the full light Of
morning. There, in the marble basin, where
in another moment he would have placed
his bare foot, lay coiled up an echys, with
head erect, preparing to spring. He sum-
moned the steward, but he was nowhere to
be found, and he was never heard of again.
The other servants killed the snake, which
had undoubtedly been placed there by the
steward from motive of revenge.
In parts OF South America, notably in the
little known country at the sources of the |
Amazon, the natives have a preparation
called wourai or worari, which is one of the
most deadly poisons known. They use it
for poisoning the tips of tiny darts which
they propel from blowpipe with the mouth
to kill birds, or even small animals; and the
effect is generally fatal. The bird or beast
or man-for the natives, though not fero-
cious people, sometimes employ wourali for
killing one another-becomes almost i'm
mediately paralYzed, or
OVERCOME WITH DROWSINESS.
The slightest prick Of poisoned dart being
sufficient to produce these symptoms, and
either dies with great muscular contortion
or else is killed by some other weapon as
soon as reduced to helplessness By the |
poison. Scientific men are at loss to dis |
cover the secret of wourali. They cannot |
even agree as to whether it is an animal, a |
vegetable, or a mineral poison. The cele- |
hrof Iiah lief
land, took deep interest in this question.
and after many laborious and very perilous
experiments, came to the conclusion that |
the main ingredient of wourali was snake
poison, but there were other Ingredients, in
tensifying or preserving the snake poison,
the nature of which he could not determine
Sir Robert Schomburg, German savant
of very high standing, made a special Jour
ney to the Amazon country to investigate
the origin of wourali. After infinite pains
and adventures he ascertained that all the
woural that is made comes from a very
limited area, where it is prepared with the
most impenetrable mystery by priestly
caste among particular tribe of natives,
who sell it for an exorbitant price to other
tribes. He spent months in the endeavor to
get into the confidence of these subtle chem
lists, who were powerfully impressed by his
own acquaintance With the secrets of nature;
but all in vain. They could neither be out
witted nor cajoled. Schomburg, however,
obtained from them a quantity of the poison
perfectly fresh, and found it was extraor-
iinarily deadly in that state.
ONLY AN EXTERNAL POISON.
After careful ANALYSIS and innumerabIe
experiments, he satisfied himself that it was
a purely vegetable poison, an extract from
the beans or seeds of tropical plant
Strychnos toxifera, of which he obtained
specimens, mingled with some inert medium
for convenience of transport. This theory,
however, has been seriously shaken, ii not
actually demolished, by its being shown
that wourali is entirely an external poison.
That is to say, it operates solely by being
into the blood from outside, and
has no effect if taken into the system through
the stomach. Birds and animals which are
killed by darts poisoned with wourali, are
perfectly wholesome to eat, and the Amazon
natives get all their food that way. Strych- .
nos toxifera, which is neither more nor less
.haE strychnine, on the contrary, is entirely
IN internal poison. 1t is not at all injurious
f introduced into the blood from the out
tide, but if taken into the stomach il
produces muscular paralysis and death in
ew seconds. Thus the secret of wourali re-
mains undiscovered.
come now to the deadliest poison of all n
aking into account its durability, or rather
ndestructibility, as well as its fatal effect
Every human being carries about a great
luantitV of the material for Tnalrin0 fhio