Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21
POISON IN THE BITE.
A ella Monster Fastens Its Teeth IN
a Snake Charmer's Hand.
DOCTORS LABOR HARD WITH HIM.
The Victim of the Venomous Reptile in a
Serious Condition.
TERRIBLE NATURE OF THIS MONSTER

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPArcH:1
NEW YORK, June 20.-The chief snake
charmer of Huber's Museum is John Sonell,
German 80 years of age. His wife, DO
natus, is engaged in similar capacity at
Worth's Museum. DIR. G. Slower Allen Is
engaged in experiments with poisonous
snakes and other reptiles, and for this pur-
pose has laboratory, where Sonell takes
care of snakes for him.
This afternoon about 1 o'clock the snake
charmer brought. to the laboratory what ne
declares was gila monster, the ugly New
Mexican lizard, the bite of which some
authorities say is atrociously poisonous,
while other authorities instance cases in
which the bite did no harm In transferring
the lizard from the basket in which he car
ried it to box, Sonell lifted it by the tail.
He turned his eyes in another direction for
a moment, and the lizard, which is about IL
inches long, turned and fastened its teeth IN
the middle finger of SonelPs left hand.
Sonell was alone in the place. He banged
the lizard about, but it did not loosen its
hold until he pried its big jaws apart with
nail. Then he put the lizard in its box,
and ran to DIR. Aliens Office. The physician
was not in. His Office boy went with Sonell
10 DOcU0rS Dates anu Fry.
Hurried to a Hospital.
DIR. Fry cauterized the wound, and DR..
Allen, who had heard of the accident, hur-
ried in and cut away the flesh on the inside
part of the base of the finger, where four
holes from the reptiles teeth were visible
on each side. Then an ambulance was sum-
moned, and Sonell was taken to Bellevue
Hospital There he was put under the care
Of nr rphn
hand swollen to nearly twice its normal
size, but could discover no evidence that the
snake charmer was poisoned.
Sonell, who had previously tainted, was
in a serious condition Of shock. He was
livid with fright and confidently believed
that he would die. He trembled in every
muscle and scarcely breathed. To assist
circulation, DR.. Bensel administered afro
pine hypodermically, simultaneously in
jecting whisky and digitalis to counteract
the effects of any possible poison that he
might have received Five minims of digi-
tails were administered at a dose, and the
sank into deep sleep at o'clock, one hour
after his admission to the hospital. He
awoke about three hours later.
Sonen in Serious Condition.
The swelling of his hands, which DIR.
Bensel says may have been caused by in
flammation by the bandages that one of the
physicians wound about his wrist, had not
subsidized The hand showed slight discol-
oration, and Sonell seemed dazed. He an
swered questions vaguely and with diff
Guilty. Part of Sonell's story was confirmed
by the doctors who cauterized his wounds.
Just where Aliens laboratory is none of
those concerned will say.
The gila monster is found in New Mexico
and Arizona. 1t is a repulsive looking rep
tile, with a huge, snake-like head. Its
body is usually puffed out like big pouch,
and touches the ground when the lizard
stands erect on its four black legs. The
tail is about one-third the entire length of
the body, being of nearly the same thick
ness throughout, and terminating abruptly
in a blunt point. The mouth is black and
its tongue, of the same hue, is fiat and
forked. The gila's~ scientific name is Hello.
derma Horridum, and it is generally reck-
oned one of the extremely poisonous species
of the lizard family. The body is scaly re-
sembling that of a rattlesnake, and is COW
cred with irregular black and yellow spots
or blotches.
The elias Fatal Bite.
The inhabitants of Arizona, where the
is generally found, regard its bite as
very dangerous, and only when the reptile
is crazed, it gives off a peculiar blackish
saliva. Doctors Mitchell and Priehart, of
the College of Physicians in Philadelphia,
made series of experiments with the gila |
and injected some of its saliva in live |
pigeon, which died in less than nine minutes |
The doctors affirmed that rattlesnake poison |
was a bagatelle in comparison, and that the !
large worms and insects perished more |
quickly from the gilas bite than when cut
in pieces by the scissors
On the other hand, DIR. German, of Har-
ward, caused kitten to be bitten twice by |
the monster, and, after dissecting the cat,
found no indications of poison. The Mexi-
cans and Indians are deathly afraid of the |
gila, and tell marvellous stories of its ven-
ON. Its BREATH they say, is, extremely |
poisonous, and from this it derives its cog
nomen, Escupion, meaning in English ''The
Splitter The .Mexicans hold that the |
gilas poison is derived from the loco, or
crazy plant, which grows abundantly in
Southern Arizona and Texas. The |
natives capture it by using long sap
ling with a moose at the end