The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-02-07

claw, in his upper jaw, that lay flat hidden under little sacks when he ain't mad, so't he can yank in a frog or a bird with his other teeth without using
 his faags at all. If he couldn't, of course, he'd never get anything to eat
 but what's pizened, and that would kill
 him as quick as it would anything else When he gets mad the first thing he
 does is to coil himself up, and then he can strike two-thirds of his length. He
 will hit as high as he can reach, and his jaws wide open, like striking a
 thing with the palm of your hand. His
 fangs are as sharp as a needle, but they | won't go through thick leather, and if
 they go through clothes, particularly wool, the chances Is the pizen will be | sucked up by the wool. Right along
 the under side is a groove, and when
 the fang goes in it presses down on the pizen bag at its roots, and that squirts
 the juice right around the fang It will
 throw the pizen as far as three feet.
 Can they bite when not coiled?"
 Bite any time; but they can't sock their teeth in so deep. No, they ain't as many people bit around here as a man would think, but onct in a while somebody gets bit. was bit onct. l | was hauling freight with bull team from Maricopa to Tombstone, and among my stuff I had five barrels of whiskey for the Arcade saloon at Tue
 son. Comin' along down toward Arro yo Seco I camped one evening early where there was plenty of wood and
 grass, and I see little spring branch
 tricklin' by the spot and knowed the
 spring was not far off I turned out my
 stock, built fire and went to the
 spring to get a drink of water, I see
 the spring there in among the lavvy
 rocks, and I kneeled down on all fours
 to drink.
 q am the biggest liar on earth, part
 ner, if I didn't put my right hand down
 within six inches of the biggest rattler ever see, layin' there all coiled up
 just ready to strike, with his tall straight up in the air jist whizzinI, he
 was that mad. He was thinkin', l guess, that was goin' to, catch him. l was that paralyzed that hadn't sense enough to jerk my hand up and he hit me fair lick right on the wrist When I see was bit, and we'll bit at that, l grabbed a rock and pounded that snake into a thousand pieces. Then l began thinl1in what was best to do with myself. put chaw of terbacker on the wound. I had learned that suckin' the wound was good, if.you had sound teeth, but I knowed that would never do for me, as my teeth was about half of lem good Mighty few people here have good teeth, l am here to tell you-poor cooking and plug terbaccer. Well, I thought of the whiskey.
 q had one barrel of good stuff for Billy Flynn, that bossed the big ditch ' in them days when the mines was flush, | and I had a hole already bored in the | top of the barrel and had been hittin' | her lick along the road when the sper- Tit moved me. broke off a few rye | grass straws that growed up by the spring, and laid ct that bunghole and sucked whiskey till I thought would bust. My mammy never whipped me for for holdin' my breath. Then I | drawed some in a tin cup and mixed 1t with sugar and mint-mint growed wild there. I didn't want to drink too much, and I wanted to drink a plenty, YOU know. I felt like could eat box of rattlesnakes, rattles and all. Then knocked under laid down under my wagon and went to sleep. I woke up next morning fresh as daisy and went on about my business. The pizen never took effect on me at all.
 "Then there was Tom Shuck. He was camped up on Blue Creek holdin' a band of horses there to get them used to the range He was about seventy five miles from Benson. One night he was out gatherin' some sage brush tp1f throw on the fire, and he felt something brick him on the hand, and thought he 1ati grabbed a hold of briar, and paid 10 more attention to 1t. It hurt awful hat night. He had to git up fore day, ind he knowed a rattler must have hit i'm. He took some paper from his pocket and tried to write his will. Tom lad money--yes, he was jest a-rottin' with coin. He couldn't write. He managed to git the best horse in his ,and saddled and bridled, and he rid ] Jim through to Benson by noon. The loctor cured him, but 1t was a mighty lose call.
 "OId man Johnson (Tin Cup Johnson hey used to call him) and his boy, Feather Leg Willie, went out one day fter a load of juniper and they see the log tree a rabbit in cleft of rocks. 7he old man wanted to get the rabbit, o he rech his hand in the hole after i'm, and his hand was too big. He felt l omethin scratch him in the han, so he els Joe to rech in. Joe he rech in for IT, Rabbit, and a rattlesnake nailed l i'm quick. The old man sucked his and where the snake jes' creased him nd went on after his load of wood. Iut Feather Legs come back home and " at the pint of death. They saved ! i'm on whiskey, and now he breaks out g l blue blotches every time dog days \ ome around.
 "Indians used to put the pizen on