The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-11-04
RATTLESNAKE OIL.

Why the Wyoming Company That
Made It Went Broke on tho Deal.
Chicago Inter Ocean: n go they've
started a skunk farm down eagti' said
the man who was 1t, as he Solspd the
change of the tray before the batter
could whisk 1t away.
yep; and rabbit ranch somewhere
in Indiana" responded the judge. s'go-
ing to raise Belgian hares for III
"a hair-ralslng venture" unbranded
the broker, as he lmpaled his cherry on
a tooth-plck.
1.-THE most outlandlsh thing q that
sort that I've heard Of yet. went on the
flrst speaker, rs a rattlesnalie farm
some place in New York state.
"That'll do" sighed the broker. The
others Just smiled YEARLY; ~ save the
man from Buffalo, who lighted fSeFFffI
stogie and remarked; ''NothlnE nasn
founding in that. gentleman. IN fact.
the idea is not even novel. Ten yenrs
ago was the president Of the Great
Western Rnttlesnake OIL Production
Company in Wyoming"
When the proper degree OF silence had
fallen the man from Buffalo continued;
1T was the first venture OF the kind.
You may not know, gentlemen, that rat-
tIesnake oil is In great demand, u is
an infHllible remedy for rheunAttsm,
govt, toottache. soft corns and hay
fever, and ten years ago It brought $2S
an ounce, and was scarce at even that
figure. Out In Red Eagle county, Wy
omlng, there was place where the
rattlers were so thick that at q mile
they sounded for all the world like, for
tysleven moving machines. Il was
there that we got our stock 70 begin OPP
eFhtIoHs with. There were four Of Us In
the enterprise: the Hon. Bud Snip
doodle, editor OF the Red Eagle War
rior: Dudley GOODBYE. ranehefi Six
Finger Unison. and myself. We caught
four thousand and siXty-odd fattiers,
and"
Hold hard, there! How'd you catch
them?" asked the judge. lg
"a very easy matter, gentleman.
What reed bird Is to you or me such
is grasshopper to a rationale. We
had six dozen large yellow India rubber
hoppers made and baited our lines with
them. In three hours we had I'VE
thousand"
-Four thousand, you said before"
The man from Buffalo glared ct the
speaker.
Perhaps you were there and know
more about It than do?' he suggested,
with dignified sarcasm. Five thou
sand and seventy-seven r4ttlerq 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 SHipdOodle pointed
out in the columns OF his excellent pa
per the benefits that would accrue to
the town from having so stupendous an
enterprise nearby, and we distributed
5000 in common stock TO the mayor
and council
1.-THE next thing was to md resident
manager that would stay on the prem
ises and feed the stock. We drew lots,
and the duty fell to Six Finger Jim
son. 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 RambOllng I'M
derneath, and at night their kissing and
rafting had u lulling, s0porihc effect,
and Jlmson,in a months time was cured
OF chronic case Of insomnia Of ten
years standing"
But what kept the snakes from
climbing up onto the piazzar'
There were no steps, gentlemen; just
four smooth, round posts which were
kept continually creased"
How'd Unison climb up there?" ask
cd the broker, with u wink at the 9th
Crs,
HE didn't. Unison used st!lts; just
the way we all did when we went there.
But despite that and all the other pre-
cautions we took, Unison got bit at
last: forgot to grease the southeast
post one evening. and the. next morning
when he went to put on his boots he
found a neither RATHER and seventeen
baby rlttlers ahead Of him"
Ibid he dle?" asked the Judge.
Die? Unison? Not much! He
went right to work doctoring himself
up and was as at as ever next day."
what did he use?" }MVx
Gentlemen. there's Just 6he specific
for the bite OF u rattlesnalSe and that's
whlskey. good. open-heaFth, copper
distilled Kentucky bourbon whiskey;
Well. in q months time we got our
first crop OF oil. We skIlled eleven
thousand rattlers, and
But you only had four thousand,
and"
Say" eroaned the man from Buff
falo don't you suppose those snakes
Increased in numbers IN oil that
time? Why, gentlemen, at the end OF
three weeks those four thousand had
multiplied until. at a moderate esti-
mate. we had something oyer 5000 in
sight. and several more thousands
crawling round so fast we couldn't In
ciude them in the census. Wen. we
netted $S,693 72 frorl the first crop Of
oil and paid a dividend Of per cent on
the preferred stock and one Of 2H per
cent on the common"
Must have got rlch," calculated the
broker But the man from Buffalo
shook his head.
mo; We would have, but. he sighed,
I'VE would have been all millIonaires to.
day II 1t hadn't been for Six Finger
JlmsOn.
Ole? Mo- II he only had! It was
this way: After that first bite fate
seemed to pursue JImson. Two days
later he was bitten again. Ha hadn't
any more than recovered from that
than he was bitten twice. And then It
became n regular thing; every dny
Unison got snake bite. Where Is It
to-day. Jimson?' we'd ask. and on the
heel, he'd answer or maybe Il would
be on his elbow or ankle or hand. And
then he'd MI n tail glass with II half
pint Of whlskey that cost us q q gallon
Wholesale, not counting freltht. Hhd let
1t go, You see. Jimson got his cognn-
men from his ability to use up red IL
9aOr: he was never known 70 take lesA
than ak fingers at guIp."
We'll, but don't Boc, how" began
the broker.
were coming out $1,000 behind every