Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-01-28
TERRIBLE WEAPONS.
A PAIR OF THEM WHICH A TRAVEL
Err PICKED UP IN PARIS.

The Venom Box Which Contains the Most
Powerful Poison Known The Needle
That Does Its Deadly Work In Silent
and Perpiexing Manner.
ssTwo Of the most beautiful and at
the same time nurderous objects have
ever seen in all my travels picked up
in Paris during my trip there last sum-
mer," said J. v. Atkinson of Savannah
to a friend.
81 bought both of them from an old
gunsmith in the QUARTER Latin, and he
assured me they were, without doubt,
the only ones in existence, as far as his
knowledge of death dealing instruments
went, and he also told me that he had
purchased them Of an old Spaniard who
had spent most of his life in the South
American countries.
81 am sure he must have had them
made to his especial order, for, as have
already stated. during all my travels ]
have never seen anything that would in
any way approach them for villainous,
murderous purposes.
1.-THE first, as you see, looks innocent
enough, and when | ask you what you
think it is you will reply
"a silver matchbox, answered the
reporter as he gingerly handled the beau
tifully chased silver object.
Touch that spring.
At an easy touch the lid Of the box
few opon on powerfully hinged spring
and disclosed the interior, and in COM
partment about one-half of the capacity
of the box were dozen wax matches
''Now you'll find a tiny button on
the side next you and near your thumb
Just press that lightly"
AS the suggestion was followed lit
tie, sharp pointed, creamy white, curved
object popped into view from that por.
ton of the box not occupied by the
matches.
"What is that?"
"That, said Mr.. Atkinson, is not
more nor less than the fore fang of the
Crotalus horridus the great American
rattlesnake, and one Of the most venom
GUS of serpents known to ichthyologists.
You will notice that the fang is sharp
as needle at its point; that it is slit
for distance up the middle, and that
it is hollow. You will also observe that
a fine, amber colored, jellylike substance
is contained within the hollow of the
fang. That is nothing less horrible than
the venom of the crotalid@, aud the
rankest poison, the most deadly of
agents known to man. A couple of
scrapes on a man hand or face mean
certain and horrible death-nausea
and vomiting, retching, commissions,
semiparalysis, complete paralysis, state
of coma, death in most horrible form
and the swelling TO horrible proportions
Of the corpse as it rapidly turns black
from the virulence Of the venom. You
may take the fearful agent, bake it be-
tween bricks, freeze it between blocks
of ice, and it will still retain its terrible
power. You may inoculate rat with
the venom, and he will die in a few
moments, dog in five and man in
from ten minutes to an hour, according
to the amount received and the condi-
tion Of his system at the time. The blood
of the first rat can be inoculated into a
second, and the blood of the second into
a third, and so on down through 100
yes, 200 subjects-without recourse tC
the original venom, and the last subject
will die as quickly and convulsively as
the first. for it's virulence is absolutely
fatal.
"You can readily see what terrible
weapon it would be in the hands Of an
INSCRIPTIONS villain. A scratch or two,
and the deed would be 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 murderous thugs who are
infesting your fair city I do not think !
would have any scruples about using it
on one of them myself.
''It would be difficult even for a first
class physician 10 discover at the first
sight just how the man met his death.
'Its companion piece, of devilish in
genuity, is needle gun. Peculiar look
ing thing, is it not?" asked Mr.. Atkin-
son as he passed richly engraved and
silver mounted object that looked like
a cross between miniature double bar
relied shotgun and revolver to his
friend, who handled it with extreme
caution.
''That little gun is about five inches
over all, and yet it contains within
those cham bers, in the boxlike part be-
tween those fine watch spring steel bar
rels and the pistol grip, enough of fiend-
ish mischief TO lay out dozen strong
men.
"The charge is a strong but powerful
cartridge made Of highly explosive
chemical which, by the peculiar con-
struction of the cham bers, makes SO lit
tie noise that it could not be heard by a
person ten feet away. The instrument
Of destruction is bunch of fine cambl c
needles that have had their heads slight
~ hattened to offer resistance and catch
the propelling force, and their points
have lain in the very same sort of ven
ON Of which spoke until they are thor
oughly corroded with it.
GAS they leave the gun they scatter
and penetrate to the most vital spots,
where their terrible work is quickly
done. Nothing short of post mortem
examination of the most rigid kind
would betray the cause of death. st
Louis Republic.