The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-28
from the effects of the reptiles

the wires of a little cage that impris-
oned a ella monster in a saloon at
| Tempe, Arizona. The Celestial thought
the reptile asleep, but when ne had
forced his finger too far in the cage
the sluggish ella monster bit him
quicker than a wink. The Chinaman
| wrenched his finger loose, making a
| severe wound clear to the bone. He
| refused whiskey or help from a ply
stefan and took a powerful dose Of
opium in order to relieve the pain.
OF course, everybody in Tempe ex-
pected the heather to die, and when
he lived until the next day 1t was the
| biggest kind of a surprise. The China
mans friends gave him opium hourly
for several days. The poor fellow suf-
| fered. i'm spite of the powerful drug,
unspeakable agony, but he recovered.
| He was practically a physical wreck
/ for nearly a year after the ella mon
ster poison went into his system, and
was only able to sit or lie about his
washhouse. He said his backbone was
| paralyzed.
The period of suffering after bite
by a ella monster, and before death
comes TO the victims relief, is from 20
minutes to two hours. The surgeon at
Fort Bowie says he knows of the case
of a big. strapping Irish private in the
army service who was bitten by a ella
monster while out hunting one day,
and died in five minutes. A teamster
who hauled merchandise to Tombstone
is 1898 was picking up mosquito boughs
for a camp fire, and unconsciously
picked up a ella monster with the
wood. He was bitten in the upper arm
and died before his companions could
saw the reptiles head off and cut the
jaws and teeth from the wound.
Where the afflicted person survives an
hour or two after the bite the agony
is described as awful to witness. The
venom Of the rattlesnake is somewhat
numbing in dts effect, and after the
first half hour is not so painful but
the poison of the Gila monster goes
through the human system with light
ming rapidly and causes unspeakable
pain and excruciating agony from
head to foot. The victim seems to be
paralyZed, and yet every muscle, bone,
sinew and particle of gray matter is
keenly alive to intense pain. The suf-
ferer's head seems as If 1t would split
open. Very few persons bitten by a
ella monster can speak after the first
Is minutes but unconsciousness sell
dom comes until a few minutes before
death. Physicians say that the poison
sets up a tremendous action of the
heart. and the victim really dies of
heart failure. The person who has
been drinking to excess a few days or
a few hours before he is injured by a
ella monster is almost sure of death |
in half an hour after the bite. Many |
in the territory say that al |
coholic stimulants are worse than use |
less for a person hurt by the reptile, |
but Walter II. Vail says he owes his |
recovery to a prompt use of whiskey |
and the application of ammonia.
DR. f. G.. Harper. who has been |
among the Hualipi Indians in Mexico |
~ sol In he TIT AaN lfl
science, says the savages there GER
tainly have a decoction that is a sure
cure, If administered Immediately, for |
the bite of the ella monster found in
that region.
Il have tried to learn from the Mexi-
can Huilips this anti-venom decoc-
ton" said DR.. Harper recently. but |
IL was useless. President Diaz says, |
however. that IL can be had. and he |
will interest himself to get 1t for the |
benefit of the people of the United |
States. where a death from a ella mon
ster bite happens once in a while.
THE most wonderful feat ever saw
performed anywhere" continued DR..
Harper. was down on the edge Of the
desert wastes in Southern Sonora sew
eral years ago. 1t was a test of the
power of the anti-venom preparation
of the Huilpis. The chief medicine
man claimed that he was a wizard, too,
and that the great spirit Moz-no-ha,
who dwelt on the peak of Orizoba,
came down and helped him defy death
from the most deadly polsons known
among the Indians. At the time of
the test | witnessed. the medicine man
summoned a dozen of his young as
sistants around a cauldron, which was
steaming and boiling with roots
leaves, horned toads, rattlesnake heads
and a score of other kinds of articles.
| was told that this was the anti-poi-
son medicine. In an hour the stuff was
cooled and ready for use.
THE chief medicine man drank lib
orally of the strange tea. and then his
body was literally washed with some
liquid that made II impervious TO poi
son. The body, bare to the waist, was
then painted i'm red and white streaks.
A fox skin hung from the waist. The
man bounded into the arena
with a 'ho-ho.' brandishing over his
head two ella monsters. Then he
varied the programme by twirling
them around his body and permitting
them to crawl all over him. He leased
the reptiles, poked his thumb into
their mouths. and even put them up TO
his face | am sure the man was bit
ten several times. We looked upon this
laring feat with horror, while the In
dams viewed IL with superstitious
frenzy and showered upon the medl-
zine chief all the presents they could
command