The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-26
RATrLEsNAKEs AS SUICIDES.
A Man Who Knows 1t All, Talks
on an Interesting Subject.
From the New York Sun.

You have often heard, no doubt"
said man who talked like one who
would be willing to bet all he was worth
that what he didn't know it wouldn't take
long to learn, that if you corner rattle
snake up and make it mad it will lose all
control over itself, plunge its venomous
fangs deep into its vitals, and instantly
proceed to die. You often read pieces IN
the newspapers telling you that rattle
snakes will do that. Now don't you be-
iieye it. 1t amt SO. Rattle
snakes amt chumps. They'll
get madden than anythi ng you
ever saw if you tease 'em when they're
corralled, That's so. And by and by
| they'll bang at themselves with their big
three-corned heads, just the same as they
would AT you if they could get at you,
and then turn over on their backs stifer
than pOkers, and look just as dead. You
can see rattlesnake do this any time
! you get the chance to tease one and then
maybe you'll go away and laugh at the
snake for being such a fool as to kill itself
just because it is mad at you. That's
| what the RATHER wants you to do, and the
| fact of the matter Is that he has the
! laugh on you, because he has made fool
! of you and not himself.
Some time when you get a rattlesnake
walked up to the pitch where he is sup
! posed to squirt himself full of poison and
! instantly die, Iust you walk away a short
distance sit down, and keep quiet In
about a minute you will see your dead
snake raise his head slowly couple of
| inches from the ground and look eau
| tiously about, If he sees nothing to fur
| ther alarm him he will seem pleased with
himself and go off lesurely about his
! h1rcipaSG- If fpOpu w hn nd 70
from what hen sees he still has his sus-
picions he will stiifen out again, and wait
until he is satisfied that 1t is safe for him
to return to life and laugh at the way he
| has guyed you.
That's what the rattlesnake does He
simply plays 'pOssum on you. When he
gets tired and all worked up over your
worrying of him in tight quarters, he
fools you by pretending to bury his fangs
gin his side, and then gives you an imita-
ton of how he wants you to believe his
deadly venom knocks things out by max
ing believe die without a seconds delay.
Now, them maybe you might say:
'tOh! but | know rattlesnakes really
commit suicide when you make them mad
and they can't get away, for I've gone up
and cut the rattles of of them as they
lay stretched dead after biting them
selves. They must have been dead, for
they never moved.
Exactly. IL wouldn't surprise me if
you or any one else should say that. | ex-
pect it, and it simply proves that the rat
| tlesnake doesn't commit suicide but only
| plays 'possum. If the rattlesnakes you
went and cut the rattles off of had been
really dead they'd have had their fangs in
! you somewhere so quick you'd have
| thought lightning had struck you. You
may bang, you may batter the rattlesuake
if YOU will, but the mack of getting his
work in on you will hang round
| him still. Take a rattesnake. Kill him
! Hammer his head TO Jelly, and split
| him from sDout to rattle, if you like
Then take hold of his tail. Quicker than
| a fash his head will fly upward and back
ward and strike you on the arm or hand
before you can get itsout of the way. Cut
! the snakes head of from his body
! Touch his tail The headless, ragged
| trunk will strike back as readily and
swiftly as if the reptile were alive. So
! you see how smart the rattlesnake is
! When ne plays 'possum he plays 'possum
! for keeps. He knows that If while he is
! pretending TO be dead he should rise up
and strike when you or anybody else was
taking of his rattles you wouldn't believe
| he was dead, and would at once proceed
! to make him so with the most convenient
! stone or club. You see, when "A rattle
snake is alive he isn't supposed to know
what he is liable TO do when he is dead,
so no rattlesnake is aware of his capac-
! ity to strike backward any time within
twenty-four hours after he has been
! killed and even beheaded. So when he
! is only playing to be dead he isn't going
| to give himself away by making a fuss
even when part Of himselfi is being yanked
! of He might if he knew what he could
! do after he is dead, and knew that you
| knew it. But hedoesn't, and perhaps it
! is Just as we'll.
"As ! didn't hear you say that you be-
| lieve rattlesnakes actually commit suicide
! because you nave seen them, and pulled
! their rattes or without their show ing
that they felt it, / take il that you never
! have done so. If / were you | never
| would have noticed ono thing about
| rattlesnakes. . They have very short
memories. II you should go 10 yank the
rattles of Of one tn al was playing pos
/ sum IL would be just like him 10 forget he
was playing 'possum. Rattlers arc
]