Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-19

snakes in his room, didn't believe it was an
elapse. and he began to handle 1t careless
~. Superintendent Koran said to him that
he thought 1t was an elapse, and admon-
ished him to be careful. There were ladies
in the room at the time, and to show them
that there was no danger Shindler drew
his hand across its face and then snapped
its head with his fingers. 1t caught him
by one of the fingers with its fang. Unlike
other poisonous snakes. the elapse instead
of striking. hangs on like bulldog. Shin
dler had to choke 1t off from his finger.
"Horan told him he had better see a doc
tor at once, but Shindler laughed and said
that Its bite was perfectly harmless. In a
few minutes he began to notice a pain in
his arm. and, examining closely he found
a red streak. He went to DR.. Taylor, who
was connected with the Institution. Other
doctors were called in for consultation, and
they worked over him for thirty-six hours
before they could bring him to conscious
ness.
Poisonous Snakes.
"All poisonous snakes are known by the
diamond or heart shaped head. with broad
jaws and small neck while the harmless
snakes have long, slim heads and thick
necks almost large around as the head.
The poisonous Snakes of this country are
the rattle. or diamond back, as some call
1t, the moccaSin, both the cotton mouth
and the highand-they are all of the same
family; the little ground rattle. which is
much smaller than the rattle and has no
rattles. and which never grows more than
eighteen inches and usually much less, and
the elapsa. The ground rattle looks like
the rattle, but it is not quite so poisonous.
due probably to the fact that the fangs are
smaller and do not enter ones system so
far, although deaths have been known as
the result of a bite of the ground rattle.
The elapse and the ground rattle are
found only in the southern states. Now,
there is the water snake with the same
markings and colorings as the moccasin.
mt arkc fnny 10 ct,oy, of hn hos
and neck. 1t is seriously believed by many
to be a noccasin. People resort to rem
edies when they are bitten by the water
snake and then flatter themselves that they
have been cured of the poison of a mecca
sin. The truth is the bite of the water
snake is absolutely harmless. I know
whereof 1 speak, for have made study
of the question for years. A person bitten
by rattle OF moccasn, unless they use
the knife or have the proper remedies at
hand. is almost certain of death. 1t has
long been mooted question why the bite
OF snakes of the south is more fatal than
with those of the north Professor Baird
had theory that the blood of the people
OF the south ws-S not in good condition to
resist the poison, hence 1t was more fatal
in the south. Another theory urged is that
the poisonous snakes of the south grow
larger and their fangs are longer. AS the
fang is in reality hyDodermic syringe,
the poison is deposited deeper in the wound.
One Kind of Sport.
The process of catching snakes in Flor
ida is an interesting one. The colored folk
have a great deal of what they call sport,
but they take the best care to see that
they don't get in the way of the head of a
poisonous snake. One of them will take a
long pole with a forked head and with
string slip moose at the end. The moose is
put over the snakes head with the aid OF
the pole. He then draws the moose tight
on the snakes neck. Then the cord is
passed through the inside and bottom of a.
canvas sack and the snakes head is pulled
up tight to the bottom of the bag The
snake will coil himself up to get a pur-
chase to pull the cord off. The hunter
raises the mouth of the bag and twists II
around until the snake is twisted up into
a ball at the bottom. Then the bag is tied
around close down to the SNAKE and the
main cord Is cut close to the bottom of
the sack. so that when the snake extends
its head 1t will throw off the moose from
It's neck. The snake can't throw it's head
far enough back to strike and you can
carry him with perfect safety with only
the thickness of the bag between YOU
Yes. sir, it is fact that I am the only
person that the express companies will re-
ceive snakes from for transportation. IT
Is because am 50 careful. I always pack
them securely and there Is not the slight
est danger. / want to say right here tina
1t i5 impossible to train snakes A snake
Is the lowest order of the animal Kingdom
1t doesn't raise any top head, and conse.
quentiy has little. IL any brains The
snakes you see in side shows and which
are handled by girls, are absolutely harm
less"