The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-08-04
SOME ARIZONA REPTILES.


Unpleasant Creatures, Hut Not as Deadly
as They Are Cracked Up to BE.
"It's sure death to be bitten by q
tarantula. Such is the general i'm.
preston among people who have a
limited acquaintance with them" said
the campaigner from the southwest.
"But / think that my experience In
Arizona, covering n period of five
years will not substantiate that state.
ment.
1 had my largest experience with
tar%antulas while on the Geronimo
campaign during 1886, and one night
while in camp at Guadaloupe canyon a
man by the name Of Mahoney was bit
ten on the arm by a t~arantula, whose
body was as large as a walnut. The
only evil effect was a swelling of the
arm, which went down In a few days
without any to medicines OF
drugs of any kind.
1T might be well to add that in the
morning Mahoney found the dead
tarantula on his arm, where he had
smashed it during the night.
"Where we were camped was really
In Mexico, although the boundary line
was SO close that it might be called nc
mans land We were guarding a wa.
ter hole and sending out couts every
day TO communicate with the troops
east and west of us, the whole thing
being a chain through which the hos.
tiles had to pass on their way to Mexi.
co or the United States. Troop @ was
on the north side of the water hole,
and mine II on the south, while a little
further up was the camp of our Indian
scouts. The rocks about were literally
alive with centipcdes, ~tarantulas, scor
pions and skunks, yet no precautions
whatever were taken to guard against
hem. i never knew of a man, woman
or child in Arizona dying through be,
ing bitten.
"'Pud' Griffin, of IL, used to catch
tarantulas with his fingers, catching
them in the same way that a boy will
catch a bee, by grasping him firmly
about the center of his body where the
joint is.
"Centipedes are the worst thing in
Arizona next to the rattler, and right
here l van 10 say that 1 was much in
~terested at reading a story, l think il
Was In the Sun, of a hold-up where q
centipede crawled up a mans leg, and
all the terror he felt because he dare
not move for fear Of being shot, and he
expected to feel the centipede sink it,
feet In him at any moment, and that
he knew was instant death. 1t was
well written, and brought out the
wonderful courage Of the q in nice
style. But Il wasn't SO. II hat cent?
pede had grabbed him he would have
yelled blue -, and grabbed hif
leg, gun or no gun. Then II the stAgs
robbers didn't shoot him first, his leg
would have swelled q little, and where
the claws OF feet sunk in the fiest
would rot or drop out, and that would
have been the end Of It. So far as hi,
being near deaths door and all that
II he never dies until a centipede kill.
him he'll have to swallow one, and then
get 1t In his death trap.
but they are nasty things, SURE
enough, and wherever they crawl OF
you they leave q red mark, which
burns and itches like sin for a few
hours.
1.-The rattlesnake is the piece-de
resistance of the Arizona menu. He.
q scrapper, and there's lots of him.
know q nice little place ear the Sui
phur Spring valley where thirty o.
forty nice big fellows may be baggst
any time. These rattlesnakes must b<
q different breed from those of the
snake professor in Florida, of whom
N writer says that they are never az
gressive. Well, the snakes l hav,
reference to seem to be under standing
orders to strike whenever anything
moves. They won't get out of you
way nor your horses way, but look a
you with a steady eye, and when 20,
come within reach they strike.-N. Y