The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1893-08-05
HE rs A SNAKE FANCIER
A QUEER CHARACTER NAMED
PETER GRUBER4 ,~
He Handles Ferocious. Reptiles in fIs
Naked Hands. and Knows Any Guam
tity of Snake Lore-How to Catch q
Rather Without Getting Bitten.

Peter Gruber, better known as sRat-
tlesnake Pete.'' of Oil City, Pa, has
put on a. new suit. Pete is known all
over the country as an eccentric COL
lector and hunter of reptiles. Some
going to the worlds fair dressed in
the skin of a boa-constrictor and he
decided to go him one better in cos
tune. After a great deal of trouble
and time the rattlesnake king of Ven
,ango county has just completed the
most unique suit any man ever wore.
1t consists Of coat, trousers, vest,
hat, shoes and a shirt A snakeskin
stuffed and vanished, answers for a.
cane, while a ssrattle'' serves the
purpose Of a pin for his tie.
Two hundred snakes were required
to make the outfit and to preserve
the brilliancy and hexibility of the
skins in the greatest possible degree
the snakes were skinned alive, first
being made unconscious with chloro-
form. They were then tanned by a
method peculiar to Gruber and are
as soft and elastic as woolen goods.
The different articles of the outfit
were made by Oil City tailors. shoe
makers, hatters, and the costume is
valued at $500 =:
Gruber, who is now 33 years old,
first began to catch and handle rat
tlesnakes nine years. ago, and since
then has caught hundreds of them
and made them the subjects of all
kinds of experiments
He said to Cincinnati: Enquirer
reporter in his placesof business the
other day ''the rattlesnake is pure
and unadulterated, and with that
he yanked out of the cage a big
rattler and tossed it on the table. 1t
was right on its dignity, and ratified
furiously around the table, showing
it's fangs and darting tongue. Watch
| ing his chance, he seized it by the
back of the head and with his naked
| hand and inserted in its mouth an
ivory knife and showed the poison
sack and fangs on the upper jaw of
the now thoroughly enraged reptile.
To more fully illustrate the snakes
way Of doing business Pete removed
the knife and then proceeded to tease
him with stick. He became furious
and struck at the stick, emitting a
1 poisonous yellow fluid
The snake used on this occasion
was the Scccky mountain rattlesnake
and was five feet in lengtn, .ss sS strlno.
OF rattles NUM- bering eighteen. He
said they were the most dangerous
between July 1 and September 1,
when they are moulting their skins.
They go blind when the shedding is
| IN progress, and will strike at anv
strange sound or touch. Even the
eyes OF the snake peel off in the
shedding of the skin, which some
times takes place in a couple of
hours and sometimes requires several
days. OF the varieties of rattlers,
the black, the yellow, and the swamp
rattlesnake, he has found the last
mentioned the most dangerous, being
the quickest to snap and making the
lightest noise when it rattles.
Pete also volunteered the informa-
tion that the rattlers used by snake
fakirs in museums are perfectly
harmless. Their mouths are invari-
ably sewed up. If they are too
lively drugs are used to deaden
them. No person would be fool
hardy enough to place genuine
ratuler about his neck unless his
snakeship was fixed for the occasion.
There are snakes in Pete's place
that have not eaten anything in three.
years. It is offered them, but they
take nothing but water. They are
tat and slick as when first caught
Some OF them eat occasionally in
captivity, their preference being
chipmunks, swallows, English spar
rows, mice, etc.
The female rattler gives birth to
her young alive, and is the only snake
that does, the others laying eggs,
from which the young are Matched.
= Pete, in addition to being an adept
in handling snakes, is equally at
home with the boxing gloves, and is
the best all-around athlete in Oil
City OF a powerful build, he is not
.quarrelsome, and seldom displays his
abilities in that line s, S~