The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-15
4 BIG DEAL N SNAKES.
The Great Western RattIesnake Oil
Production Company.


east" said the man who was It, as he
seized the change off The tray before the
waiter could whisk it away.
yep; and a rabbit ranch somewhere in
Indiana" RESPONDED the judge, going to
raise Belgian haIes for fur"
"A hair-raising venture" murmured the
broker, as he impaled his cherry on
toothpick.
THE most ouuandish thing of that sort
+ that I've heard of yet" went on the first
+ speaker. 'fs rattlesnake farm some place
/ N New York state"
"ThapH do" sighed the broker The
others just smiled wean Y; all save the
man from Buffalo, who lighted a fresh SO
g.e and remarked: NO hing astounding
in that, gentlemen. In fact, the idea is not
even novel. Ten yeaIN ago was the presi-
/ dent 'of the Great Nastern Rattlesnake
Oh Production Company in Wyoming"
When the proper degree of silence hal
fallen the man from Buffalo continued:
1T was the first ven. ure of the kind. You
may not know, gentlemen, that rattlesnake
oil IS in great demand 1t is an iufalltble
remedy for rheumatism, govt, tOothache,
soft corns and hay fever, and ten years
ago il brought SOS an ounce, and was scarce
at even that figure. Out in Red Eagle
county, Wyoming, there was a place where
the rattlers ere so thick that a mi e away
they sounded for all the world Ike forty
leven moving machines. II was there that
we got our stock to begin ops rations with.
There were four of Us in the enterprise
the Hon. Bud Snipd0odle, editor of the
Red Eagle Warrior; Dudley GOODBYE,
rancher; Six Finger Unison, and myself.
We caught four thousand and siXty-odd
rattlers, and"
Hold hard, there! How'd you catch
them" asked the Judge
"A very easy matter, gentleman. What
a reed bird is to you or l such is a grass
hopper to a rattlesnake. We had six doz-
en- large yellow India rubber hoppers
made and baited our lines with them. In
three hours we had 5000
-Four thousand, you said before" The
man from Buffalo glared at the speaker.
Perhaps you We're there and know more
about it than l do?" he suggested with
dignified sarcasm. Five thousand and
seventy-Seven' rattlers we caught. OF that
number we threw aside something over a
thousand, as being understood; we wanted
only the best. We started the farm on the
outskirts Of Red Eagle City. At first
there was some opposition, but Snipdoodls
pointed out in the columns of his excel
| lent paper the benefits that would accrue
to the town from having so stupendous an
enterprise nearby, and we distributed ST.
600 in common stock to the Mayor and
Council
THE next thing was to find resident
manager that would stay on the premises
and feed the stock. We drew lots and the
duty fell to six Finger Jimson. We
built shack for him nine feet above the
ground and made him real comfortable.
He could sit on his piazza and watch the
critters gamboling underneath, and at
night their Kissing and rafting had a lull-
ing, soporiic effect, and Unison in a
months time was cured of chronic case
of insomnia of ten years standing"
But what kept the snakes from climb
ing no onto the piazza?"
" There were no steps, gentlemen; just
four smooth round posts which were kept
continually creased"
How'd Jimson climb up there?" asked
the broker, with a wink al the others
He didn't. Unison used stills; just the
way we all did when we went there. But
! despite that and all the other precaulions
we took. Jimson got bit at last; forgot o
/ grease the southeast post one evening an
/ the next morning when he went to put on
! his boots found a mother rattler and sew
enteen baby rattlers ahead of him."
did he died?" asked the judge.
! Die? Unison? Not much He went
right to work doctoring himself up and
was as fit as ever next day."
/ What did he use?"
Gentlemen there's just one specific for
| the bite of a rattlesnake, and that's whis-
| Ky, SOOu, Opeu-HedItn, Copper-diSt titled
/ Kentucky bourbon; ana that was the kind
JimSon used. Well, in a months time we
| got our first crop of Oil We killed eleven
thousand rattlers, and
But you only had four thousand. and
Say" groaned the man from Buffalo
don't you suppose those snakes increased
in numbers in that time? Why, gentle
men, at the end of three weeks those four
thousand had multiplied until at a moder-
ate estimate we had something over 5000
i'm sight. and several more thousands
crawling round so fast we couldn't include
them in the census. Well, We netted 49,
69375 from the first crop of oil and paid a
dividend of per cent. on the preferred
stock and one of 21a on the common"
''Must have got rich" calculated the
broker But the man from Buffalo shook
his head
mo we would have but" he sighed,
I'VE would have been all milionaires to-
day ii it hadn't been for 'Six-Finger Jim
son.
Die? No: If he only had 1t was this
way: After that first litesfate seemed to
pursue Jimson Two days later he was
bitten again. He hadn't any more than
recovered from that than he was bitten
! twice. And then il became a regu ar
thing; every day Jimson got a snake bite
Where is it to-day, Jimson?' we'd ask,
and on the heel, he'd answer; or mayb
it would be on his elbow or ankle or hand
And then he'd fill tall glass with half
pint of whisky that cost us IS a gallon
wholesale, not counting freight, and let it
so. You see, Jimson got his cognomen
from his ability 10 use up red liquor he
was never known to take less than six
| fingers at a gulp.'
"Well. but I don't see how" began the
broker.
Nor did we-at first but after we'd cast
/ holo MA
coming out $1,000 behind every month be-
cause of the whisky bills. We tried 10
make a decker with Jimson 50 that hed
| take all the whisky we had on hand
something under three barre,s-and hand
in his resignation. But he wouldn't; said
he'd been elected manager for one year
and wasn't going to back out on account
of a few measly snake bites. So there
wasn't anything left to do but 10 shut up
shop And that's what we did; shipped a
carload of rattlesnake oil on a Wednesday.
made an assignment on Thursday, and