The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-11
WORSE THAN THE RATrLEsNAKE
Skunks Attack Sleeping Campers.
Their Bite Causes Hydrophobia.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
SIT is not the rattlesnake or tarantula
whose bite is most dreaded by campers
out on the far western plains, The hunt
ers and cowboys are far more afraid of
the skunk, and that for u reason that
might astonish a great many people
who do not know the plains country"
The land surveyor from New. Mexico
was talking. A Sun reporter, who was
one of the group sitting with him at a
table in the Murray Hill cafe, at first
thought he was ''queering' the party, but
the surveyor went on in perfect serious
ness.
"Like the prairie dog and badger, the
skunk of the plains makes its hole in the
open prairie In size and markings and
characteristic means of defense and
offense it closely resembles its relative in
the east. Like them, it is carnivorous,
and prowls about at night for small birds
and mice and insects, and, when occasion
serves, is an inveterate robber of poultry
yards. If a person comes upon il away
from its hole the skunk doesn't waste its
energies in trying to run away, but i'm
politely turns its face from the intruder
and stands its ground with confidence
that no one will be tempted to approach
too near. It is its fearlessness of man
that makes this wretched little beast
such a terror, for it will boldly en-
ter tent or come anywhere that persons
are asleep on the ground, and if il finds
nothing about that better suits its taste.
will begin without hesitation to eat at the
hand, face, or any other part of a sleeper s
person that chances to be exposed This
would be bad enough of itself, for the
creatures weasel teeth are sharp as
knives, and man may find himself badly
lacerated when he fully wakes to what is
going on. But the mastering horror of
the skunk's bite comes from the fact that
it almost invariably results in hydropho-
bia to the victim. Why this should be |
can't pretend TO explain, and probably
nobody else can tell but every plainsman
knows it, and the cowboys dread the beast
worse than they do the rattlesnake.
THE period shown by the army records
in which the greatest number of people
died from this cause on the plains was
between the years 1871 and 1875. During
this time many persons were bitten most
of them fatally. Col r. j. Dodge of the
regular army. who died the other day.
knew by report of sixteen cases, every
one of which proved fatal. One army
doctor, Assistant Surgeon Janeway, sta
toned at Fort Hugo, reported in the
Medical Journal eleven cases that he
treated or knew of, in ten of which the
patient died of hydrophobia. 1t was in
those days that the buffalo practically
was exterminated, and the hunters and
their outfits of helpers, living upon the
open prairie and sleeping in the open air,
were peculiarly exposed to the attacks of
these vicious night providers. For four
years the plains country was noisome
with the carcasses of buffalo killed for
their skins and tongues and left on
the prairie Gray wolves and coyotes and
foxes had unwonted feasting in this vast
slaughter yard, and that circumstance
may have had something to do with the
fact that many of these beasts ran mad,
sometimes dashing into settlements and
encampments, attacking every living
of human as well as brute life AS TO
whether skunks run mad, which some
plainsmen hold to be the cause Of their