The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-25

tie, sharp-polnted, creamy white, curved
object popped into view from that portion
Of the box not occupied by the matches
That" said Mr.. Atkinson, lis no more
nor less than the fore fang of the Crotalds
Horridus, the great American rattlesnake.
and one of the most Venomous of serpen's
known to serpentologists. You will notice
that the fang Is sharp as a needle at its
point, that i is slit for a distance up. The
middle and that IL is hollow. You VIII al
so observe that a fine, amber-colored Jei-
ly-like substance Is contained within the
hollow OF that fang. That is nothing less
horrible than the venom of the Crotalldae,
and the rankest poison. the most deadly of
agents known to man. A couple of scraDes
on a mans hand or face means certain
and horrible death. Nausea and vomit-
ing, retching, commissions, semi-paralysiN,
complete paralysis, state of coma, death
In a most horrible form and the swelling
TO horrible proportions of the corpse as IL
rapidly turns black from the virulence of
the venom. You may take the fearful
agent, bake 1t between bricks, freeze 1t
between blocks OF ice. and 1t Will retain
Its terrible power. You may inoculate q
rat with the venom and he will die in a
few moments, dog in five, and a man in
from ten minutes to an hour, according to
the amount received and the condition OF
his system at the time. The blood of the
first rat can be inoculated into second
and the blood of the second into third
and so on down through a hundred--yes.
couple of hundred suhiects--without re-
course to the original venom, and the last
" as the first for its virulence is absolute
ly fatal.
"You can readily see what terrible
weapon II would be In the hands Of an UNI
scrupulous villain. A scratch or two and
the deed would he done, while the victim
would simply imagine that he had been
scraped by pin. Yet In a close fight with
some Of the despicable footpads and muir
derous thugs who are infesting your fair
city Just now, do not think / would have
any scruples about using 1t on one of them
myself.
ut would be difficult even for first
class physician to discover at the first
sight just how the man met his death.
Its companion piece, of devilsh ingenu-
ity, Is a needle gun. Peculir looking thing,
Is II not2" asked MIR. Atkinson, as he pass
ed a richly engraved and silver mounted
object, that looked like cross between
a miniature double-barreled shotgun and
a revolver, to his friend, who handled 1t
with extreme caution.
That little gun is but tive inches over all
and yet II contains within those chambers,
in the box-llke part, between those fine
watch spring steel barrels and the pistol
grip, enough of fiendish mischief TO lay
out dozen strong men.
The charge Is strong and powerful
cartridge made of highly explosive chem
ical, which, by the peculiar construction OF
the chambers, makes so little noise that it
could not be heard By a person ten feet
away. The instrument of destruction is a
bunch OF fine cambria needles that have
had their heads fiattened to offer resist
ance and catch the propelling force, and
their points have lain in the very same
sort of venom of which spoke until they
are thoroughly corroded with it,
AS they leave the gun they scatter and
penetrate 20 the most vital spots, where
their terrible work is quickly done Moth
ing short Of post-mortem examination OF
the most rigid kind would betray the cause
of DEATH"