Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-08-15

cession, even three minutes atteF
the head has been severed from the
body. None of these six snakes
had more than five rattles or fangs
exceeding a quarter of an inch in
length. III
On May 9th a three-foot two
inch diamond back was discovered
within six feet of the east door Of
the house, where it was dispatched
by q shot from a 45-calibre Colts
revolver, fired by my hosts SOL.
This snake had but seven rattles
and no button, but the broken and
ragged edges Of the last rattle
showed that some were missing.
The fangs, which were extracted
and are now in my possession, are
quite half an inch in length.
In addition to the diamond-back,
there is also the ground rattle
snake, somewhat different in ap-
pearance, smaller and shorter in
proportion to it's size than the dia-
mond-back, and possessing fewer
rattlers, but equally rs venomous,
I am told, though not 80 plentiful.
A ground" rattler was killed at
the station. ]. A. Roberts reports
killing a monster diamond back q
short distance east of Dilley.
The killing of rattlesnakes in
this part of Texas is of such com.
mon occurrence that mention of 1T
is rarely made by those who kill
them, unless questioned on the
subject, or an unusually large one
is dispatched. I have interrogated
numbers of respectable farmers
and ranchmen residing in this
neighborhood on the subject of
snakes, and the reply is: "0h, yes,
we kill them almost daily"
Deputy Hide Inspector w. 81.
Smith states that eighteen dia-
mond. backs have been killed in
and about his house during the
past few weeks, some of them ap-
preaching four feet in length, and
one of the reptiles being found un-
der bed in sleeping apartment.
The same story is told by every ar
rival, magnified in some cases to
an incredible extent. We have
several rattles presented by resi-
dents Of the country where the
snake had measured very nearly
five feet in length, while six-foot
rattlers, we are informed. have
been killed. So numerous are the
snakes, and SO prevalent the fear
of them, that walking after night
fall, unless over a beaten path or
well-defned roadway, is never at
tempted, some mode of convey
ance being always employed, even
for the most trifing distances.
The presence of so many rattle
snakes, the small number of per-
sons bitten, and the rare instances
of fatal consequences to the victim
struck me at first as being singular.
These facts, however, are explained
by two causes: First, the rattle
snake is usually in the "open" in
warm weather, where it may be
seen and avoided, and where, if not
seen, the warning rattle proclaims
its presence, unless the snake is
asleep or blind, as in August; Sec
ond, the bite of the rattlesnake,
though dangerous in the extreme,
is cot always necessarily fatal, the
result to a large extent depending
on the location of the wound. If
the fangs should reach a large vein
or artery, recovery is always doubt
full, but if no vein or artery is pen
trated the effect Of the poison is
generally overcome by large doses
of whiskey when available. I am
told of two or three instances,
though, where neglect or inability
to obtain counteractors had result
ed in frightful deaths among the
Mexicans, where the fangs had en-
tered a thumb, finger, fleshy
part of the hand. The simple
method of extracting the poison
by sucking the wound when prac-
ticable, though known and prac-
ticed in some cases, is not popular,
owing to the existence to some ex-
tent of an incipient stage of scurvy.
A curious anomaly is the presence
of scurvy among people whose
chief pursuits are cattle raising
and agriculture.
Wounded Soldiers Dread Com