The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1895-05-17
A CROP Or SHAKES.
An Iowa Nan Who Raised Rat
tiers for Their Venom
Description OF the Fsrm bY Traveller
Who Visited Ie-HoW the Farmer
Obtained the Virus and sent
II 70 Market.

Several years ago, while travelling in
Iowa, a Chicago nan happened upon
settlement IN Tama county. and. while
stopping there, heard Of a rattlesI1alze
ledge about four miles northeast O. The
town that had been preempted by q
man from Ohio. Old Burnisoa's ledge
turned ont to be all it was painted. says
an exchange, and something more. It
was q mile aad half Of rott0n lime
stone stratum turned on ed9e and stick
ing out Of the prairie sixty feet high.
ike q big quarry that had got saagged
in the middle OF lake Right on top
of 1t, in a grove Of wild tern and dwarf
sycamore. lived old Burnison, ia a log
cabin he had built for himself about
three years before, when he had pre-
empted the quarter section.
This whole bed of rock. lying in
slanting and crumbling layers. much
OF it as crumbled as old cheese. was
literally alive with rattlesnsizcs When
1 reached the place old Burnison had
settled down to snake killing as a bust
ness. He had gradually given M all
attempts TO work his farm and devoted
himself to the ecaseless war Of exter-
mination. lie said he had kill0i Is
many as fifty rattlers in a day, but thcv
were ''gettin' scarey of him now ans
knew his step. Besides. sal he: Il
amt as anxious to Kill as l was. seem
as how snakes is a better payin, crop
Z than corn"
lie and his boy must have been at
this about year, it appeared, when
some one wrote to him from Des
/ MOines and offered to pay him for al
the rattlesnale poison he could collect.
This set him 70 work pulling the faags
! out OF the dead snakes. II was difficult
and tedious work but he succeeded in
| getting together a vial OF the venom
and sent it to his correspondent, with
complaint that it didn't pay to 'gether'
it.
'What was his surprise to receive IN
answer. a lengthy letter from Chiea-
go firm, for which the Des Moines cor
respondent was only an agent, thank
/ ing him for the virus and renting ten
! dollars, with specific instructions how
to 'gether' the poison without so much
trouble. he was to pull the lang be-
I fore the snake was killed and while his
mouth was open. of course said the
/ letter, 'yoa can't verv well do it after
the snake is dead, because the fang is
folded back and hidden in the folds Of
the maxillary gland. We send you by
express to our Des Moines agent a pair
of forceps specially constructed for
this work, which we furnish to our
agents.
Here the old man got up and
brought a long-handled steel instru-
ment of the most delicate workman
ship. and accompanied him and his
+ hoy to see how it worked We had not
gone hundred feet through the plum
! grove before we heard the rattle of a
snake. and the boy, turning aside into
/ The bush, fond his victim coiled. with
his head up, and in half minute he
had his forked stick over the neck of
/ the animal, and the old man had the
instrument fast on the little white
( fang that hung down visibly IN his open
mouth.
"With dexterous jerk the fang and
i the venom bag together came ont un-
brol1ea, and, after crushing the head OF
the serpent with his boot. he laid the
trophy in the palm Of his hand for me
/ TO look at.
afterwards he showed me a little
box with glass stoppered vials laid in
cotton. which the Chicago firm had
also sent him. He told me that he was
making good deal more money by
the snakes than he could get 'oGten'
his. crops.
Il bought a vial of the viscid fluid
from cid Burnison and kept it for a
long time for experiments, ultimately
passing it over to DIR. Doremus.n