The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1894-08-11
soNs ARR ma Arpnlxs.



as written OF
"It's sure death TO be bitten by q
taratula. Such Is the general impress
sion among people who have a limit
ed Acquaintance with them," said the
canpaigncr from the west. ''But /
think that my experience In Arizona
covering period Of five years will not
substantiatc that statement
II had my largest experience with
the antulas while on the Geronimo
campaign during 1SSrS0, and one night
while In camp at Guadaloupe Canon a
man by the name OF Mahoney was BIT
ten on the arm by tarantuln, whose
body was as large us walnut. The
only evil effect was swelling of the
ARM which went down In n few days
without any recourse to medicines or
drugs OF any kind
at may be we'll to add that in the
morning Mahoney found the dead tar
antula on his arm, where he had
smashed 1t during the night.
Where We were camped was really
| In Mexico, although the boundary l.ne
was SO close that 1t might I've called
mo mans land We were guarding q
water hole and sending out scouts
every day to communicate with the
troops east and west of us, the whole
thing being q chain through which the
hoStiles Ind to pass on their way to
Mexico or the United States. Troop
G 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 centipedes,
tarantulas. scorpions and skunks. vet
no precautions whatever were taken
to guard against them. I never knew
of a man, woman on child in Arizona
dying through being bitten
"'pud' Griffin. of II. used to catch
tarantulas with his fingers, catching
catch n bee. by grasping him firmly
about the centre Of his body where the
joint Is.
| "Centipedcs are the worst thing in
Arizona next to the rattler, and right
here I want to say that was much
interested at reading story, / think
1t was in the Sun, of a hold-up, where
a ccntipede crnwled up mans leg,
and all the terror he felt because he
dare not move through fear of being
Shot. and he expected to feel the CEN
tipede sink its feet into him at any
moment, and that he knew was i1l-
slant death. 1t was well written and
brought ont the wonderful courage Of
the man in nice style But It wasn't
so. If that centipede had grabbed
him he would have yelled blue hell
and grabbed his leg. gun or no gun.
Then, If the stage robbers didn't shoot
him tlrst, his leg would have swelled
a'Ettle. and where the claws or feet
sunk in, the flesh would rot and drop
out and that would have been the end
of It. So far as his being ncnr deaths
door and all that If he never dies until
q cent.pede kills him, he'll have to
swallow one and then get it in his
death trap.
"Rut they are nasty things. sure
enough. and wherever they crawl on
you they leave red mark, which
burns and itches Ike sin for a few
hours.
"'rhe rattlesnake is the piece-de-re-
4 siStance of the Arizona menu. He's
kncav nice little place near the Sui
phur Springs valley where thirty or
forty nee big fellows may be baggeti
any time. These rattlesnakes must be
a different breed from those Of the
snake professor in Florida, of whom
one writer says that they are never
aggressive. Well, the snakes / have
reference to seem TO be under standing
order to strike whenever anything
moves. They won't get out Of your
way nor your horse's way. but look at
you with steady eye. and when you
come within reach they strike."--New
York Sun.