The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-23
CUSTAvE ECKSTEIN & Co.

no other writing on the box other than the
address OF Peter Bruber," which Is Rat
tlesnalke Petes more formal name The
box contained snakes OF the following spe-
cies Cottonmouth snakes, copperheads.
chicken snakes, copper-bottom. and mud
snakes
1t will be seen that most OF these snakes
are very poisonous The cottonmouth Is
similar to the rattlesnake in every way
excepting the lack of rattles II Is said
that these snakes are more poisonous
than rattlers but Pete. who has had con-
siderable experience nursing snake bites
does not believe 1t.
The chicken snake Is a black snake,
with red spots dotted here and there on
its body, and Is quite pretty. AS Pete
took one of them from the case and ex-
amined IL thoroughly he remarked that
ne guessed there wasn't much poison
about it. The copper-bottom snakes are
similar to the snakes found in Florida
and other southern states, Pete also
handled them with great readiness, but,
IN taking the cottonmouth, copperhead
and mud snakes from the box, he used
more caution.
While the reporter was talking to Pete,
a long box arrived by express which was
Immediately opened 1t contained large,
bright colored snake which is known as
a coachwhip 1t was seven feet long and
came from Chadwick, Mo. The man OF
many snakes took the reptile and threw
It in with the others and locked up the
cage.
AS he locked the door he pointed to a
four-foot snake which was curled up in
one corner of the cage. He was a copper
bottom from Florida. He had just swal-
lowed a field, or garter snake, measuring
about three feet in length. Another snake
in the same cage had just been fed on
sixteen small mice and one kitten a week
old In order to prove that the snakes
would eat almost anything, Pete opened
the den and placed an ordinary egg IN
front Of one Of the largest reptiles. His
snakeship was not long in encircling the
egg, and when he swallowed 1t he was
seen to tighten his body as IL to break
the shell.
The attention Of Rattlesnake Pete was
called to a statement which was publish-
ed from Cleveland, which stated that the
army worm which had been doing much
damage in the northern part OF ONO mad
an enemy in the rattlesnake. Pete sta
ted that not only did the rattlesnakes de-
your the army worms, but all snakes
were fond Of them.
IF the farmers only Knew when they
were well off," said Pete, their garden
truck would be much better If they al
lowed the small snakes, which are gener-
ally killed. to live, that they might devour
the insects"
Pete has known IOE Il TACT WHERE sAdhtS
have gone through gardens and picked
bugs Off the vegetables. Hence his APP
peal for the harmless little creatures"
Pete wound up the conversation by de-
scribing the attitude of the blacksnake to-
ward the rattlers and, in fact, all others,
but particularly the former. Pete has a
large number of blacksnakes and rattlers
in the same cage. When one Of the rat
tiers starts to devour a smaller snake or
anything that one Of the Nblacksnakes
wants, the latter twists around the rat
tier and squeezes so that he cannot swal-
low the object.
The result is that the RATHER invariably
chokes up whatever he has started to eat
and moves slowly away. He never at
tempts to strike at a blacksnake. Rat
tiers often strike at objects which they
miss and happen to bury their fangs in
other snakes, but in all his experience
Pete has never had one Of these cases
which proved fatal.
However he clairas that suicide Is a
common ching among rattlers. as only
yesterday he had a large rattlesnake die
from a wound self-inhicted. It appears
that about a week ago this big snake
turned slowly around when Pete was
standing IN front Of the cage and struck
az himself. Its fangs were buried deep In
his skin and yesterday he died.