The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-24
ADVENTURE WITH A BOA.
The Monster Was Vexed Because He
Wss Kept Too Long in His Bath.
from the Neto York sun


Wss Kept Too Long in His Bath.
from the Neto York sun.
II you happen to own q boa constructor
you should not let familiarity breed care
leSsness in handling him after his bath
That advice has been given With great
| deal Of earnestness by Prof. johnson the
snake charmer Of Hubers museum. for hi,
neglect in observing il nearly cost him hi.
| life.
The big boa, which arrived on the barb
| Liberia from Africa two months ago. has
| been Prof. Johnson's special charge. and
among the duties thus imposed upon the
professor was to give the big snake a cold
! bath two or three times week Yesterday
was bathing day. The snake which is IL
| feet long, was lifted from the glass cage in
| which il is exhibited and placed in a tub OF
| cold water. A cover was put over the tub
| and the snake case was cleaned The case
stands In the middle of a room whose other
| attractions are troupe of trained pigs. a
wire king, tack walker, a tattooer, a re-
verse photographic and a soda fountain
| girl.
The big boa has the usual fascination for
the other attractions in its room. lust as il
they did not see it every day, and its bat
| is always watched with intense interest
Recently, after the snake case had teen
cleaned aud the cover removed from the
bath tub, it was noticed that the boa lifted
A boa constructor knows when il
wants bath. and also knows
when it has bathed enough. The big fellow
yesterday had TOO much of bath, and was
cross. Prof. johnson knew this as soon as
he took hold OF the boa's head to lift it out
Of the tub. He at once called to Prof.
Miller, the wire king, to help him lift the
snake. and to wipe it of at the same time.
Prof. Miller told bis part OF the story to a
Sun reporter.
prof. johnson" he said, "kuows dor. t
like snakes, and | thought he called me
just to show the others that | was afraid
But took cloth and grabbed the snake
three feet below its head and helped to lifS
it, and at the same time wiped it with the
cloth. 1t was slippery, and felt it slip
ping through my hands. Then did what
l know now l ought not to have done. l
took firm hold Of the snakes body and
held 1t tight. That gave it brace, do you
see? Prof. johnson lifted its head up as
high as he could to the right of his own
head, but there was some slack of the
snakes body between Johnson's hold and
mine, and as we both held firm we gave 1t
a brace. The boa pressed that slack around
Johnson's right arm and began wobbling
so that l lost my hold and let CO."
Then this is what the boa did: Johnson's
right arm was bent. his elbow by his side,
and his hand, with the snakes head, about
on the level with his neck. The boa crossed
its length over Johnson's chest, got a wrap
around his left arm aud made two complete
turns around his left leg. In the struggle
johnson fell to the floor, and there was
CONSERVATION in the room.
The first to comprehend what must be
dcne was Prof. O'Reilly. the tattooer This
is his story:
II rushed to where Prof johnson Law on
the floor and grabbed the boas tail. un-
wound the coils around Johnsons leg, aud
IL was like tearing up the root OF q tree
johnson was senseless. He was white and
sweat was running down his face. Then
the other men working in this room ran to
us, and among us all we got the boa loose
from johnson and put it into the cage"
Another man who helped was Prof. Lii
Kerslake. who directs the performing pigs
t'rof. kerslake frankly admits that lie is
frightened to death OF snakes When 1t
comes to pigs the professor is at home, 90 to
say. He can teach a pig to do anything but
stop squealing, but he has no use for snakes
especially 16-foot boas But there
is a very close comradeship deyel-
oped among the curious men who
do this curious work in freak shows.
There Is no Jealousy. The professor who
genius of the professor who can write lido
syncracy" back ward faster than you can
write it forward, and generally speaking,
any Of them will do a fellow professor a
good turn rather than bad. So the pro
fessor of pig culture rushed TO the aid of TIE
wire king and the tattoo professor. He said
last night:
II never touched snake before. but
grabbed hold Of this one between where
L-Af IlatlI a 7
saw that Johnson was in a dead faint. His
eyes were all white. Well, grabbed hold
aud don't remember any more except that |
let 90 when some one told me to-"
Prof. Kibo, who, when he takes a stroll,
prefers to take it with bare feet on upturned
tacks, is a colored professor and wears
green silk trunks. Although he is supposed
to come from some foreign country, where
snakes are as common as sparrows in City
Hall park, he did not lend hand. Perhaps
he knows too much about snakes.
The professor OF reverse photography
jumped from his platform and lent hand
in hustling the boa into his case, and then
everybody helped Johns-n. He was faint
and exhausted, but DR.. Martin, who was
called in, said no bones we're broken.
johnson went to his home and declared
that he had ended his career as snake
chSrmer.
II thought was goner," he said to
Sun reporter. Had it not been
for Pref Reilly think l would have been
killed. When the boa was crushing me
everything began to swim before my eyes. 4"
johnson has severe pain in bis right
side and thinks the snske had coil around
his body. All OF the other men agree that
the snake did not have a coil around john
sons body. 1t had bis right elbow pinned
to his side, its body across his chest and and
a coil around his left arm. That gave it a
purchase, with which drew Johnson's right
elbow so sight against his side that it caused
a bruise. Despite the DOCTORS assurance to
the contrary, johnson thinks one of bis ribs
Is broken.