Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1895-04-24
A CROP OF SNAKES.
An Iowa Man Who Raised Rat
tiers for Their Venom.
Description OF the Farm by n Traveller
Who Visited It-How the Farmer
Obtained the Virus and Sent
1t to Market.

Several years ago, while travelling in
Iowa, Chicago man happened upon a
settlement Ill lama county, and, while
stopping there, heard of Il rattlcsnalle
ledge about four miles mort hcast of the
town that had been prccmptcd by q
man from Chic. Old Burnison's lcdre
turned out TO be all it was painted. saws
an exchange. and something more. 1t
was mile and half of rOtton lime
stone stratum turned on edge and stick
ing out OF the prairie sixty feet high.
like big quarry that had got snaggcd
in the middle of Il lake. Right on top
of 1t, in grove of wild tern and dwarf
sycamore, lived old Burnison. in n log
cabin he had built for himself about
three years before, when he had pre-
empted the quarter section.
This whole bed of rock, lvinp in
slanting and crumbling layers, much
OF 1T as crumblcd as old cheese, was
literally alive with rattlcsnakcs When
L reached the place old Burnison had
settled down to snake killing as q bust
ness. He had gradually given up all
attempts to work his farm and devoted
himself to the ceaseless war of exter-
mination. He said he had killed as
many as fifty rattlers in day, but they
were ''gettin' scarey of him now" and
knew his step. Besides, sad he: 81
amt as anxious to kill as I was, seein'
as how snakes is a better payin' crop
than corn"
''He and his boy must have been at
this about a year, it appeared, when
some one wrote to him from Des
Moines and offered to pay him for all
the rattlesnake poison he could collect.
This set him to work pulling the fangs
out of the dead snakes. Itwas difficult
and tedious work, but he succeeded in
getting together a vial of the venom
and sent it to his correspondent, with a
complaint that it didn't pay to 'gether
it.
What was his surprise to receive in
answer lengthy letter from a Chica-
go firm, for which the Des Moines cor
respondent was only an agent, thank
ing him for the virus and remitting ten
dollars, with specific instructions how
to 'gether' the poison without so much
trouble. He was to pull the fan- be
fore the snake was killed and willie bis
mouth was open. OF course sail The
letter. you can't very well do Il after
the snake Is dead, because the fang is
folded back and hidden in the folds OF
the maXillGry gland. We send YOU hy
express to our Dcs Moines agent Il p;g il
of fOrceps specially constructed for
this work, which we furnish to our
agents..
hn N1l
brought a long-handled steel instru
ment of the most delicate workman
ship, and l accompanied him and his
boy TO see how IL worked. We had moi
gone hundred feet through the plum
grove before we heard the rattle of &
snake, and the boy, turning aside into
the bush, found his victim coiled, with
his head up, and in half minute ht
had his forked stick over the neck o1
the animal, and the old man had the
instrument fast on the little white
fang that hung down visibly in his oper
mouth.
with a dexterous jerk the fang ant
the venom bag together came out un
broken, and, after crushing the head o
the serpent with his boot. he laid tn,
trOpny III tne palm Oh MS nanu 1Or mt
to look at. -..... a..
afterwards he showed me little
box with glass stoppered walls laid il
cotton, which the Chicago firm haC
also sent him. he told me that he wa
making a good deal more money b,
the snakes than he could get 'outen
his crops. ....,..,,. .s.ta,.....
"I bought vial of the viscid fuic
from old Burnisop and kept it for
| long time for experiments, ultimatel.
: passing 1t over to DR.. Doremus"