Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-10-19
THE WHITE ~TARANTULA.
A ~Tenderfoot's Scare on the calves
ton Beach.

n AenucrIOOt scare On thc uaINcS~
ton Beach.
On our way up from the beach we
We're electrified to see a large, fuzzy,
long-fegged something dart swiftly on
toward the house ahead of us.
Horror of horrcrs," I exclaimed.
"A white tarantula-the most poison
Gus species known" 1 added, with a
p~retense Of superior knowledge. I'VE
must l-ill it by all means. Its bite Is
certain death. They often so into the
house and bite people"
We had often seen black %taranrulas
in Arkansas, but n white one, with
''eyes on stills" as little Joe put It, was
somewhat out of our calculations; but
as this was Texas we concluded it was
a species peculiar to the state and de-
termined TO begin a war of extermina-
ton of the vermin.
Each, picking up a stick, gave chase.
Round and round, UP and down we
dashed, but the new specimen to us OF
"bugology" had such marvellous powers
OF iocomotion that we made no head
way. 1t ran sideways, backwards and
frontwaris with a celebrity that babe us
defiance, for il it came toward us, with
a blood-curdling yen we gave him a fair
field. Having often heard of the jump
ing proclivities of the tarantula, we did
not know what moment this, vicious
looking specimen, with the adjustable
eyes, might make a flying leap and land
on one of us. During one of his last at
tacks, which sent us skurrying off to a
respectable distance, our adversary
gained enough time to reach the house.
and under it went. The house stood
about two feet up from the ground on
piles, so under we went just in time to
see the thing disappear down a good
sized hole in the ground. Our surprise
was increased to find a great number
OF other holes around, and we were
sure we were right in the very,den of Il
horde of the miserable insects.
In my childhood's days l had often
participated in the exciting pastime of
drowning out gophers," so I was not
long | n deciding TO drown this new kind
out, and away went Joe for a bucket,
while the others did sentinel duty.
Soon we were pouring streams of
water into the hole and deluging the oc-
cupant, but the thing seemed to enjoy
ii. After several fruitless efforts we
changed our tactics, and gave him a
hot bath with better results. AS the
steaming fluid rolled down into his sub
terranean home he decided it was
cooler above, and came cautiously UP,
just in time to get a blow from a cudgel
and a boiling bath from another ali
~tagonist, while the third impaled him
on his shillalah and bore him away in
triumph to be exhibited as our first
trophy. As we bolted into the room
where the colonel (my stepfather) sat
reading, fiourishing what we really sup
posed to be a white tarantula, for I
must add that the claws-the only dis
tinguishing feature of the thing-were
missing, lost in some previous engage
ment presumably, we were considera-
bly, crestfallen to have the colonel, who
was not much given to small talk and
a great deal inclined TO profanity, look
at us with the most contemptous
glances rs he ACCLAIMED: "Humph!
Tarantti,c, the devil. Nothing IN the
world hut a sand rab."-Correspond-
ence of the Philadelphia Times.