Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-10-16
PULLING A SNAKES TOOTH.
The Amateur Dentists and tho Eleven
Foot Boa Constructor.

The Amateur Dentists and tho Eleven
Foot Boa CONSTRUCTOR.
Edward Schmidt, the proprietor Of
the bird store on Twelfth street, the other
morning enjoyed the usual privilege of
playing dentist to an eleven-foot boa
constructor.
His royal pythonic highness weighs
just sixty pounds. and is valued at 81
per pound. One of the most remarkable
features of his makeup is his mouth. 1t
is common phrase to hear Of the
"dropping of ones lower jaw" in mo-
ments Of CONSERVATION, but Mr. Boa can
get up the largest amount Of consterna-
ton in this line when he gets ready by
dropping about six inches of lower jaw,
linear measurement. He can raise an
equal amount of upper jaw at the same
time, and his mouth is provided with a
convenient lateral hinge arrangement by
which it can be spread sidewise and pre-
sent total receptive surface of about
the size Of baudbox.
It was this mouth, with a good, ser.
viceable set of teeth, but no poison
fangs, that got Mr.. Snake into trouble
soon after his arrival in the national cap
ital. He was lodged in a good strong
wire cage aud fed q few pigeons. Then,
instead Of going to sleep gorged with
food, Is is supposed to be the habit of
his family, Mr.. Constructor amused him
self by striking at his master, who was
putting . reinforcement Of wire netting
around the bars of the cage.
He miscalculated in one of his springs,
and when, Kissing like steam exhaust
pipe, he launched about four feet of his
neck across the cage, he hung himself up
in the wire netting by his teeth. As .
result he had very sore mouth for .
couple of days, aud Mr.. Schmidt decided
that he would have one of the injured
teeth pulled.
1t was . delicate operation to handle
his snakeship, who. If given his choice
| of holds. is u good deal more than a
match for man in q catch as catch can
wrestling bout. But the willy bird man
took an unfair advantage of his prisoner,
and, diverting his attention in front, ex-
ecuted a flank movement and grabbed
him by the back of the neck. Then it
was case Of pull Richard pull Satan in
getting the lengthy southerner out of his
cage. He finally came with slip and q
slide, and Mr.. French, the assistant den
tist, promptly froze on to the last foot
and half Of the tail as it slid out of the
cage.
Mr.. Snake, stretched at full length,
with no chance to work his powerful
constructor muscles, was rather at dis
advantage, but Watching an opportunity
while the doctor was working on his
head with pair of wire nail pullers, he
threw half Nelson lock around Mr..
French's legs and proceeded to mix up
with that gentleman in way that was
no less surprising than inconvenient.
The tooth, which was loose, came out
easily, looking not unlike large fish
bone, and the two amateur dentists then
exerted themselves to let go Of the snake
and get him back in his cage.
Mr.. French was finally got out of the
embrace of the python's coils, and the
two operators wrestled him back into
captivity, where he drew himself up on a
shelf in the corner of his cage, and,
coiling himself into large figure 8, lay
with his almond shaped head on the top
of his coils and swore fluently in an un-
Ineligible South American dialect at
every one who came in his neighborhood.
Il Washington Post.