The Bessemer indicator., 1893-05-06
DEATH FROM HIS BITE.
THE OLA MONSTER DOES NOT
MAKE A SAFR PET,
a Man Lost His Arm Playing With One
An Arizona Cattioinan Necounts
Some Ugly Experiences
With tho Reptile.

Mr.. C. NJ. Bruce, who owns a big
bakers dozen years riding over
that country, has employed part Of
his time in studying the habits Of the
mysterious and uncanny beast OF the
desert, the Gila monster. He tells
some blood .curdling tales OF the ef-
tects of its bite. writes New York
Sun correspondent.
There are many people down In
that country" he says. "who don't be-
lieve that the Gila monstcr's bite is
poisonous. There's something queer
about that, too. I've known o good
many cases in which the bad effects
OF the bite were tritiing, and some in
which there were no evil effects ct
all. And then again, I've known
some cases that were fatal, and somo
that were SO ghastly in their results
that when look at their weird. gro
tesque reptile, and think OF them. l
can't help shivery sort Of feeling
about the heart as II it were the roin
carnation OF some nalevolent old
witch.
"For instance, thero wns q case Of
bartender in Benson some years
ago. He had pet Gila monster that
he kept in box on tho bar. and
sometimes he would let it out and
play with 1t. He would put one fin
ger in its mouth and drag it up and
down the bar. and the thing seemed
to enter into the fun and would hold
back and wiggle its tail and appear
as pleased as q dog. told him once
that he wus taking great chances,
and that some day the monster would
bite him just as sure Us fate But he
only laughed at the idea Of it's biting
him 1T knew him SO well-nnd even
II 1t should bite he didn't think it
would be poisonous.
"Wcll, one day he put his finger in
Its mouth when 1t didn't happen to
feel goodnaturcd. and it sent its
teeth to the bone. Its jaws closed
down like wise. and the men In the
saloon couldn't pry them open. 1t
just sat there and blinked its wicked
little eyes at them and held on, and
they had to cut its head of before
they could make It let go. That
poor fellows arm soon began to
swell, and he suffered intense pain in
his arm and hand and in his back.
And after a while the flesh began to
shrivel and tho muscles to become
weak. and inside of three months the
whole arm, from the shoulder down,
was as shriveled and helpless as q
paralytic's. That was some four or
five years ago. but his arm remains
in that condition to this day, and
there's no prospect that he'll ever
have the use OF II. There was no
permanently I'll effect. nothing but
the temporary pain. In any other part
OF his body.
There was fatal case at u little
town on my ranch only few weeks
ago. A monster was confined in a
box, and a vaquero came up and
began teasing it and swapping his
fingers ct it through the Stats in the
top OF the btx. He nngered the
reptile. and presently it bit him. and
in half IN hour he was dead.
Then there was the case OF Walter
Vale. ono Of the wcalthiest and best
cattle men III Arizona He saw q
big ella monster when he was out on
horseback. and thought he would
capture it ASA present for friend Ho
beat 1t over the head till he thought
he had killed 1t. and then strapped it
on behind his saddle. But these
reptiles are US hard to kill as cat
They have queer habit OF com
ing to lie again after you nre per-
fectly sure you have killed them.
That is what this ono did BY tho
time Vale got home he had forg
NIL about the Gila behind the saddle
He put his hand back to dismount.
and the things jaws closed down Oh
his forefinger. He called to some OF
his men, and they ran to him and