Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-02-07
THE GREAT GllA MONSTER.
oNE AMERICAN RErTI.E sciEN-
lists KNOW LITTLE ABOUT.
viseiIke Grip Of It's Huge Jaws.
Deathiy, yenomous, Ugly and rois-
nus the Air with It's Breath-rhe
YUM Indians Do Not Fear IL.

] iouHu IN tho deserts OF tho buuthWeat. "
Is a combination of the American rattle
snake and tho Aslatio baslllsk In its pot
sonous effects and has mouth somewhat
on the plan OF that Of an alligator and legs
like those OF lizard. This queer reptile
WINS first discovered to civilization by the
early Spanish explorers in tho ella river
valley, In what is now Arizona. The ella
monster Is OF IN average length OF lS
] inches, OF which about one-thiid Is the
toll IL isa sluggish, lazy ANIMAL with a
striped or spotted skin, Is about inches
I thick, has four short, thick legs and az is
/ slowly moves In tho sand 1t is difficult to
discover whether It Is crawling or walk
! ing. Its head Is thick and broad, with
| protuberancos over its round, hulging,
| opaque eyes like the horns OF the so called
/ California horned toad. tie teeth arc set
/ like those Of an alligator, something on
tho plan Of the Horrated teeth in q cross
! nut saw. IL does not crawl In tho grass
like o snake, bask on rocks as lizard does
or hibernate In the muddy streams US does
tho alligator, but IS always found In the
hot desert sands where tho temperature is
more than 100 degrees and would roast
anything except sIAmahdor or ella
monster.
IL does not "strlke," but bltes, and
0
ia powerful jaws close like trap. Its
grip y as relentless as that OF the snap
ping turtle, which, II Is said, releases It's
grasp only when IL thunders though 1t DO
midsummer when 1t caught on. An ut
tempt to shake OF this terrible monster
only aggnyatcs tho wound.
Major Tower, U. S. A., now stationed
In this city, md who spent two years Ia
Arizona on staff duty, tells OF cowboy
who caught II ella monster and tied him
to the crupper of his saddle, so as to bring
him to camp. On arriving he reached back
TO got the reptile to show what no had
brought IN. Tho monster caught tho cow
bOy's thumb In Its mouth and closed down
Ho could not unloosen tho reptile Finally
a man put his foot on the munster's body,
and another succeeded in ihrnatingh bowie
knife In its mouth and thus prlod it open.
lIo finally had to split its mouth before
tho cowboy could let go Of tho reptile.
"No, " tuid Major Tower, at did not
Kill Tho cowboy, but he cnmo near losing
bin arm. 1 presume that in It's anger the
reptile had nRdo several attempts to bite
and thus emitted almost oil OF its venom.
Otherwise, no doubt, tho man would have
died Oh, ycs, whisky Is used az an anti
dotc, bpu the average Arizona brand Is
about ~ bad w the bite, "
The Yumn Indians hayo a curative in
the snake root, which they use when BIT
ten by n rattlor or ella monster Though
the m0nster is native 10 tho ella valley,
which u In tho vicinity Of Yuma, whore
ltwAs frat discovered, 10 Is also sometimes
found 10 the Colorado and Mohnvo deserts
and In Death valley, Prospecting miners
Ia attempting 10 cross tho deserts, have
lnin down undor tho ecant shade OF q cac-
tus or among patch Of tunas and have
awakened IN the ugunics Of death, poisoned
By those creeping reptiles, which impreg
nata tho air with their fetid breath.
When found, the body has turned black,
but tho dry climate preserves 70 from pu.
treiaetl1n, and unlods covered by tho drift
Ing sanda It IL eaten by coyotos II Is very
likely thnJ In such cases tho coyotes them
Belyos die, buehuHo the poison OF tho ella
monster hns comparatively littlo moisture
In its composition and has preserved its
deadly quail les, This has been tested BY
| Indian medicine men, who have subjected
tho venom OF tho monster to the boiling
/ process, with the view Of Weakening 10,
| powers 10 was found that whitish sedl.
ment settled nc the bottom after several
hours boiling This sediment was bottled
for moro than year, AT tho end OF which
time II was found to 10 more powerful
than ever. The medicine men tested the
virua by injecting the distilled poison into
rabbits and other anlmals
Tho indian medicine mon arc empir
icisis Of q high order They make their
medicine from plants, roots and horbs and
know the qualities OF every plant that
! grows. They know the qualitcs and cf
Ieots OF q poison and lts antidotcs and
frequently administer poison and then
anRIV lfu nnNfN,,tn - a..
makes the subject imporvious to subsc-
quent poison, and that he need no longer
fear the dreaded ella monster Among the
ingredients which tho medicine man
compounds medicines arc the virus Of tho
horned toad the lizard and the ring
snake Tho medicine mon arc nbout tho
only ones ON tho deserts who do not fear
the monster or tho rAttlesnakc. In fact
they court the company OF these snnkoa for
their medical laboratory "Onp OF the
most daring things ever witnessed, " said
Major Tower, was u test OF his powors
given by ono OF these medicine mon near
Yuma Tho chief medicine man, who
also claimed to DO wizard and possessed
OF supernatural powers, assembled his
aids around his caldron, which was boil.
ing and hubbling with roota, herbs, liz.
ARDS snakes, etc, He was making modl.
NANN iNi WV AAue. ~ was n weird spot,
amid grove near the ella river and the
night was very dark, especially suitable
Tor the gruwsono work, Tho chief ineal
elmo man drank literally Of snake roottca,
and then his body was literally washed
with some liquid that made It lmpervious
to poison. Tho body, bare to the waist,
was then painted In red and white stroaks.
a foSskin hung from tho waist. We all
SAT around In the iltalight like cheats be.
fore a funufnl pyrc, The modlcluo man
bounded into the aroma with a bo.ho'
branaishing ovor bis bead two ella mon.
s'ers, Then he varied tho programme by
twirling them around his body and ner
misting them to crawl all over him. We
locked upon this daring teat with horror
while the Indians viewed SC with superstl.
uous iivnAy and showsrd upon tho nedi.
cine chief all tho presents they could com.
mand
he thea gave theu sams Of the incdi.
cine, which had been boiling and bnhhling
anrins differentiation. Thodose, OF which
they partoee IN double quantity, would
MAKE tAem fnHsoproof for tho coming
year Me- tho nsnstea teeth woro net
extracted, and tAat IL the most surprising
thihg about It. We tried to got the rnedl.
cue mans secrat Tor this mysterious
ohasin' or whatever is mny be, but 10 no
Nali' iheN 90 not write prescriptions,
even In thslt own dialect, but whom they
want certain Ingredient for a compound
they 50 out and dig ID UP They generally