Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-08-07

,.,fTn trying to make hair grow on his
bald head said Asa Bushnell, an
early operator in the Venango county
oil fields Of Pennsylvania, Dan
Mitchell was saved from the most hor-
ribie death that man can die, sup
pose. He was prospecting for Oil. He
had bald spot on top Of his head,
and it worried him good deal. A
native told him that if he would keep
the spot well anointed with crude pc
Iroleum it would restore the lost hair
to the spot, and cited many cases to
prove it. The native didn't lie to
Dan, either, about those cases. l
knew of many baidheads myself to
which the hair had been brought back
by persistent use OF crude oil. The
treatment was by no means unpleas-
ant, and dent suppose it could we'll
be used anywhere outside Of the oil
camps and towns of th--t day, where
everything was saturated with crude
oil; but it will knock badness just
the same =
r."Dap begaAw the treatment, and used
the odorifersks ointmens literally.
ore day he hae TO make a trip over
mountains. The journey was
through the woods, ans a, rough one.
When Dan got ready to staff he found
that some one had stolen his horse,
50 he went on foot. The
WEATHER WAS WARM,
and long before he got to the place he
was headed for he was pretty well
tuckered out. He had smeared his
bald spot generously with crude Oil
before leaving, and the heat OF the
hard journey had caused it to take on
a moTe-penetrating and far-reachlng
odor than common, and had distrib-
uted the grease pretty generally over
his head and face.
dan hadn't gone far when he over
took pack peddler trudging along.
He walked along with the peddler a
short distance, but the peddlers pace
was slow, and he pulled on ahead. He
had gone, perhaps, a hundred yards
when he came to little rivulet that
ran across the road, and he saw that
it came from a spring at the roadside,
the spring being hidden by a over
hanging bushes. He was parched with
ahirst- and he got doX2nfSA-tei<- knees.
Showed his head
IhrCug4 l4afil pening in the bushes
to get drink The spring was deep,
and about two feet in diameter. He
quenched his thirst, cooled his face in
the water and proceeded on his jour
ney He had gone only few PAGES,
though, when he heard yell behind
lin. He turned quickly, and saw the
peddler lying in the road in front Of
The spring, writhing in agony. Dan
hurried back. The writhing peddler
was livid and with one hand was
clutching his neck. His eyes were
staring and bloodshot, and with a look
of horror in them. He pointed to-
ward the spring and cried:
Z ." There he is, Keep back, for Gods
sake! He struck me in the neck!'
I %"Dan looked where the peddler was
pointing and saw an
rs ENORMOUS RATTLESNAKE,
/ cooled at the edge of the bushes, its
. big head raised above the coil, its eyes
blazing with fury, and its rattle sound
ing. Before Dan could make any move
toward killing the snake, the peddler
threw himself forward, and with an
oath seized the snake. AS he did so
the RATHER struck him again, sinking
ats fangs into his wrist The peddler
tore the reptile in two, threw the parts
on the ground, and, rising to his feet,
stamped the ugly and still defiant head
of the snake deep into the ground
This was all done so quickly that Dan
had no time to interfere. The ped
dler's neck and face and arm had
swollen frightfully. Still stamping
the snake, he fell upon the ground in
paroxysms Dan forced the contents
of the'whisky flask down the unfortu-
nate mans throat. The peddler was
able to say that he had stopped to
drink at the spring, but had no sooner
put his head through the opening in
the busuhes than the rattlesnake,
which lay coiled in the fern on the
opposite side OF the spring, struck him
The fangs had sunk SO deep in his neck
that when he threw himself back into
the road he drew the snake out of its
ambush with him. 1t had instantly
coiled, ready for another attack. The
man died in a short time, suffering
terribly to the last. Dan placed his
body in the bushes and hurried on to
get help to bury it. He found an oil