Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-06-28
FIGHT WITH SPIDERS
ATTACKED BY AN ARMY OF
TARANTULAS

Two etowaways In the Hold Of
Banana.Carrying Vessel from Hav-
ana Have q Battle for Their Lives
Rescued just An Time.
Joseph Mabry, Of St Louis, tells the
most remarkable tarantula story that
has come to light for several months.
Mabry has papers to show that he was
q member of u Georgia company dur
Ing the Spanish war. and that he was
In Cuba. If only one other man In the
world were living. and lived In Ha-
vana, Mabry says. he would die before
going TO see him. He Is now In Deni-
son, Texas. Speaking to q newspaper
man of that town. he said:
my home Is in st. Louis. Last win
ter l left home and came south, pass
Ing through Texas and finally going to
Georgia. worked wherever l could
get employment. that being my mission
down this way. I was out Of work In
ST. Louis and was discouraged there.
In Georgia got work for while, but
In the spring my employment gave
out. Companies were being organized
to go to the war and I offered myself
as a volunteer. Joined a company or
Georgia volunteers and went OF to
camp. We did not get to the front,
and after the protocol was signed
and a friend Of mine decided we would
get out Of the service. My friend was
from kentucky. l was machinfst
and my friend stenographer. We
decided that II we could get over to
Havana, we would probably be able to
get In on the ground floor. We ap-
piled to q Congressman who was q
friend to my friend. and our discharges
finally came and we went to the coast
taking a boat for Havana. We wore
our army uniforms. not thinking that
they would make any difference after
; we were discharged. but they did. Our
desire to save money and not buy any
citizen clothing got us into serious
| trouble.
"As soon as we reached Havana we
| were told that we must leave. We
were laboring under n grave mistake,
thinking that the United States had
|
the peace treaty was signed. We were
put under a guard and ordered to leave
on the first boat, as our presence In
Havana might be dangerous to the
peace and safety of the community.
IL We could do was to wait our time.
\ British boat touched at Havana,
/ bound for New Orleans with q load Of
tropical fruit We tried to get passage
on the boat and were refused point
blank, as the boat did not carry passen-
gers. Our guards gave us to under
stand. as we thought, that we must
leave or go to jail. we decided to
sruve. BEFORE the DpHt sailed we man
nged to slip aboard by bribing a couple
Of sailors. We were told that we could
.limb into the bins where bananas were
stored and that the sail would be n
short one to New Orleans The sailor
promised to smuggle food to us on the
Journey and they fastened us up in the
bins of bananas, closing the hatchway.
We had not had any sleep for forty,
eight hours and were dead on our feet.
We turned in on a pile of straw and
slept soundly until nearly morning Of
the following day, when I was nwak
ened by my friend calling to me.
What is thatY heard him ask.
"The light was very dim and could
barely see the outline Of his form near
me.
"I don't see anything replied.
az thought you were tickling me
with bundle of straw said he
81 did not waken till you called to
me- was my reply.
81 guess 1t was a rat said he and
we both doZed off.
Shortly was awakened by a shrek
from my friend. He had jumped up
and was staring at a black, fuzzy OBJ
Iect In the straw. l recognized it at
once as tarantula. The light was not
good. but that much was plain. Soon
it was Joined by another and another.
and In a few hours 1t looked like we
we're surrounded with tarantulas. The
big spiders regarded us as impostors,
for they seemed bent on attacking us.
We stamped them, killing many. and
fought them with all our might
did you ever see an angry taran.
ing for one. and If you find one, don't
look for hundred. l suppose 1t is no
exaggeratiOn to say that we were faced
by a hundred of these angry insects
They spring like rats or frogs, and all
of a sudden a black object would come
whirling through the air. and in nine
cases out of ten it would strike some
unguarded spot and inject its venom.
was bitten in half a dozen places on
the face. and rs many more on the
hands and arms, and the insects would
crawl up the legs Of our pantalOons to
bite US. Both of us were horribly bit
ten all over our persons. The fight
with the insects lasted all day long,
and, though we were both strong,
sound men when we went on the boat,
by evening we were ALMOST too eX-
hausted to stand up. We called for
help, shrieked, yelled and cried, but no
help came. We We're faint for want of
food and dying from thirst. 1t was
day Of horrors for both Of US. Our
wounds were swelling and our throats
were parching for water. After con-
tinuing to fight the tarantulas and
shrieking for help, we finally attract
ed attention and sOme of the sailors
came to our rescue. Whether 1t was
the sailors we bribed who came to us
or whether 1t was someone attracted
by our cries don't know. I was then
in .delirium and my eyes were swollen
closed" Plain Dealer.
RiIey's Jokes on Halrord.
7. WhitcOmb Riley did his first liter