The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-27
BITES BY A eILA MONSTER.
snaSe Charmer Sonell Put Under
Counter Po.sons in Bellevue.

snake charmer Sonell Put Under
Counter Po.sons in Bellevue.
From the Netc York Sun.
The chief SNAKE charmer" of Huber's
Fourteenth street museum is John Sonell, a
German, 30 years old, VINO lives at 200 East
Ninety-eighth street with his wife, Donatus.
who is engaged in a similar capacity at
Worth's museum. DR.. c. Slower Allen of
Il East Twenty-eighth street is engaged in
experiments with poisonous snakes and
other reptiles, and for this purpose has a
laboratory In Fourth avenue, near Seventy
sixth street, where Sonell takes care of the
snakes for him. scr4t
Yesterday afternoon at about o'clock
the snake charmer brought 10 the labora-
tory what he declares was ella 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 carried it to a box Sonell lifted it
BY the tail. He turned his eyes in another
direction for moment, and the lizard,
which is about eighteen inches long, turned
and fastened its teeth in the middle finger
of Sonel's left hand.
Sonell was alone in the place. He banged
the lizard about, but could not loosen its
hold until he pried it's big jaws apart with
nail. Then he put the lizard in its box and
ran to DIR. Aliens Office in East Twenty
eighth street.
The physician was not 10. His office boy
went with Sonell to Drs. E. 8. Bates and +.
Z. Fry, whose offices are at AZ East Twenty
third street. DR.. Fry cauterized the wound
and DR.. Allen, who had heard of the acct
dent, hurried in and out 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 ambu-
lance was summoned and Sonell was taken
to Bellevue hospital
There he was put in Ward 80, under the
care OF DIR. Walter Bensel. DIR. Bensel
found Sonelrs hand swollen TO nearly twice
it's normal size, but could discover no evi-
dence that the snake charraer was poisone |.
Sonell, who had previously tainted, was in
serious condition of shock He was Iiyid
with fright. and confidently believed that
he would die. He trsmbled in every muscle.
and could scarcely breathe. To assist respira-
ton DR.. Bensel administered atropine hyper
dermically simultaneously injecting whisky
and digitalis to counterfeit the effects Of
any possible poison that he might have re-
ceived. Five minims of digitalis were ad-
ministered at dose, and the doses were
kept up for some time.
Sonell sank into sleep at o'clock, one
hour after his admission to the hospital. He
awoke about three hours later. The SWELL
ing af his hand, which DR.. Bensel saws NAV
have been caused by Inflammation or the
bandage that one OF the other physicians
put about his wrist, had not then subsidized.
The hand showed slight discoloraticn. and
Sonell seemed dazed. He answered
questions vaguely aud with difficulty.
Fart OF Sonelps story was confirmed by
the doctors who cauterized mis- wounds. Just
where DIR: Aliens laboratory is none Of those
concerned will say.
The ella monster is found in New Mexico
and Arizona. 1t is repulsive-looklng
reptile with an ugly suake-like head. Its
body Is generally pulled 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
thickness throughout. aud terminating abb
ruptly IN blunt point. The mouth Is black,
and its tongue, OF the same hue, is fat and
forked
The elias scientific name is Heloderma
horridum, and Is generally reckoned one of
the extremely poisonous species Of the lizard
family. The body is scaly, resembling that
of q rattlesnake. and is covered with irreg-
ular black and yellow spots or blotches.
The inhabitants Of Arizona, where the
monster" Is generally found, regard its
Is outraged, when 1t gives off a peculiar
blackish saliva.
Drs. Mitchell and Reichart of the COLLEGE
OF Physicians in Philadelphia made a series
OF experiments with the ella and injected
some OF it's saliva in live pigeon, which
died in less than nine minutes,
The doctors affirmed that rattlesnake
poison was bagatelle in comparison and
that large worms and insects persisted more
quickly from the gila's bite than when cut
in pieces by the scissors. On the other
hand. 8. German Of Harvard caused kit
ten to be bitten twice by the monster, and
on dissecting the cat found no indication of
poison,
The Mexicans and Indians are deathly
afraid of the ella and tell marvellous stories
of its venom. It's breath, they say, is ex-
tremely poisonous, and from this ID receives
the native cognomen, escupion, meaning in
English "the splitter" The Mexicans hold
that the elias poison is derived from the
loco, or crazy plant. which grows abundant
" in Southern Arizona and in Texas
Where the loco plant plant does not grow
TO any great extent, the ella is not con-
sidered DOisononR . The nativas cantura a.