The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-06-22
Snakes and Religion.

Oiidk6S 2nO ftcliQtOn.
s:las sugg. the itinerans evangelist. Of
Illinois, proves his faith ty snake bites
He pf1nSes his bare arms into q vritanS
wrtsxltng. Kissing mass of rattIesuakes
copperheada. cotton mouths, noccaxfds,
and puf1ne adders, draws forth his arms
from the implanted deal box that he has
given them for a den. with q copperaead
hanging by .ts fanss and teeth to his
thumb. a cotton mouth With his Jaws Sc
deeply fixed In his WRIT, where the veins
are largest and huest that the blood spurts
from the two black punctwe where the
fangs pricked througIand shows. beSsd<s
the poison fangs Of the moccaxa, broken
on N the desh When he does this bis
followers declare that SiEas has worked q
miracle. while other people ponder whethe,
The huge white-boded. coolhiooded, blue
eyed. gray-ha.red old farmer. sifverxms:h,
and latterly. travelling exb0rter. has not.
after all. produced an optical delusion be-
fore the men who shuddered and the wo-
men who tainted, when he enacted the
horrid scene
Silas Is a preacher and has evolved q re-
Egion Of his own from the Bible His doc
uine Is that Christ came to save the lost.
restore peace between the sons Of Adam
and to eface the enmity which has existed
between the seed Of the woman and the
seed OF the serpent, since Eve ate the ap-
pie and God cursed the reptile. 1t Is toprove
his faith by his works that he allows the
snakes to embrace them, and also that he
may draw an audience to listen to his ser
mons.
Scoffsrs have said that Sugg drugged his
snakes. But this he disproves. For cats.
dogs and fowl die. and die soon. in most
piiahle agony when bitten by the same
snakes that bite Siias Sugg. A hundred
men saw copper-head snake taken from
Sugg's box Strike a full-grown, healthy
rooster. who had been Growing from the
top Of nearby poultry-yard fence. and
IN seventeen minutes by the watch the
cock staggered. fell and died.
This copperhead snake, within that hour
and on other days before and since. has
literally fastened itself with its fangs and
teeth on Sugg's wrists and hands.
Silas Sugg Is IS years old and has been
an evangelist for four years. He was born
eighteen miles northeast of Vienna, N
johnson county. Ill. of humble parentage,
his father. Gabriel Sugg, being wheel
wright who in early youth immigrated
from Tennessee. The elder Sugg. man Of
no education, died at Corinth. Miss. In
1863 Mary Sugg, Silas' mother, still sur
wives her husband. at the age Of 50 years.
and resides with one OF her granddaughter
in Union precinct, Pope county, Illinois.
She. too. never learned to read. S;las Susg,
without serving an apprenticeship. took up
the occupation of s;lversmith and jeweier
sixteen years ago, and has since made his
living from IT. His neighbors say he Is
skillful workman. He cannot remember the
time when he could not read nor can he
who taught him. -Four or five
years ago he begun to read his Bible. and
out of its study evolved sort Of theology
which he declares explains all he does.
He bases his peculiar religious belief up
on the story of the fall Of man as related
in the third chapter Of Genesis. When Eve
and Adam had each eaten of the forbidden
fruit. Adam declared that Eve had tempt
ed him, and she that "the serpent beguilei
me and did eat Then began the enm:ty
between mankind and serpent In response
to Gods curse. Because thou hast done
this, thou art cursed above all cattle and
above every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go. and dust shalt thou ca;
all the days of thy life. And I win put
shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise
his heel"
Silas Sugg says that when the fan OF
the world to save sinners the enmity be-
tween man and serpent was also at an
End. As proof he cites the experience of
St. Paul while en- route to Rome. When
cast upon the Island OF Melita he gathered
nf CT. nj 1oI6
ire. "A viper came out Of the heat and
on his hand" The barbarians ex-
'ected that Paul should have swollen or
allen down dead suddenly. but after they
bad looked great while and saw no harm
,ome TO him they said that he was god
Fear and superstition, according to Sugs.
s all that is now responsible for snake
bites. To those like him who feel no fear.
'erpents can do no harm. This doctrine
ie breaches to his hearers.
When the leaves begin to fall Sugg re-
cases everyone OF his snakes and lets them
md for themselves dens in which to spend
he winter. He does not remember when
le was first bitten nor the circumstances
lnder which the snake bit him. but he Is
'csitive as to the fact He ceased to fear |
10Th the snakes and the snake bite. he |
hem as one would pets. The only sensa-
ion he experiences when struck is very |
much like what he says he imag.nes an |
lectric shock would feel like. but he says |
q Fever saw an electric battery. He never |
cde on the cars nor took a trip anywhere |
y steamboat. and Galconda, Ill. where he
FORKS, is the largest town he was ever
In his deal box he carries a rattlesnake,
7htch appears 70 be a fine four-foot spec
men of Crotaius conhuentus; three or four
opperheads Of various Sizes which are
eadily recognized as Ancistrodom contor-
xix; five-foot cotton mouth, otherwise
nown os the highland moccasin to OPP
biologists as Ancistrodom atrofuscus and
qually dreaded under either name: several
loccasins. the bite OF every one Of which
ordinarily speedily followed by death.
phiologists say that the putting adder or
Ieterodon platyrhinus Is harmless. Sugg
as one in his box. He says that cate and
hickens die when bitten by the putting
oder. but the putting adder doesn't hur;
i'm.
Slas Sugg Is undoubtedly sincere. He
as never been known to use profaue Ian
uase The tobacco habit is unknown to
I'M Not a drop o: vinous or aicoho.;c
cuors ever passed his lips.
George W. Martin Of Kansas City. kan
Is, went 70 Washington a few DAYS go 20
mock Nat Barnes our OF the postofics
I'd get !; for himself George has goo.
rong petition with mr.. and understood
at Nat also had big ore George sxkei
at 70 let him see his names. and 10 his
'rprse found that he not only had all he ,
ames which were on Georges petition bu. ,
SO several in addition. George has come