The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-03-29

out eNcruciating pain. she always
sleeps on her stomach, with the in
jured foot in the air, and has not
walked for several years Externally
the leg and foot look as well as ever.
Doctors don't know what the poison
,iiL TO affect the Indian girl so, and
they have tried hard to find out. It's
a queer case
Then there was the case of Walter
Vale, one OF the wealthiest and best
known cattlemen in Arizona. He saw
q big ella monster when he was out
on horseback, and thought he would
capture it as present for a friend.
He beat it over the head until he
thought he had killed it, and then
strapped it on behind his saddle. But
these reptiles are as hard to kill as
cat. They have queer habit of COM
ing to life again after you are perfectly
sure you have killed them. That is
what this one did. By the time Vale
got home he had forgotten all about
the Gila behind his saddle. He put his
hand back to dismount, and the things
jaws closed down on his foretinger. He
called to some men, and they ran to
him and tried to pry the monsters
Jaws open, but they couldn't make 1t
let go, and finally they had to cut it's
head off and pry it's mouth open with
iron spikes.
A Ride for Life.
1.-THE first thing Mr. Vale did, even
before he got his finger loose, was to
send one of his men on a fresh horse
to Pantano. the nearest railroad town,
thirty miles away, to telegraph to Tue
son for physician to come on a special
train to Pantano, where he himself
would meet him. Then he bound his
wrist and finger with leather thongs
and with his pen knife cut the flesh
around the bite. BY that time fresh
horse had been saddled for him and he
leaped upon it's back and darted off
on that terrible thirty mile ride for his
life. He rode the whole distance at
break-neck gallop. suffering much all
the time from the tightly tied thongs.
he had not gone more than half the
distance when the poison began to
make itself felt. Darting pains shot
all through his body. He felt sore and
weary, and the pains in his back soon
became excruciating. But he finally
reached Pantano, and the doctor was
only a few minutes later. His first
question was: Have you taken any
whisky?' and when Vale said he had
not the doctor assured him he would
pull him through. For all physicians
and the best informed people in that
region believe that whisky or any al
coholic drink aggravates the Gila mon
ster's poison. Vale soon became delir-
ious, but the doctor pulled him through.
But from all that 1 can hear no man.
could suffer more than he did for sew
eral weeks He has mad a weak back
eve: since, so that he cannot ride
horseback about hts ranch.
Now, tarantuly makes a bad sore,
but it doesn't kill man. 1 have got
awake frequently in the morning while
camping out and found tarantulas
~, 1n1 IL
They do that to keep warm, but II you
are careful about disturbing them they
won't bite you.
Other Strange Reptiles.
The horrible reptile called the vina-
groom by the Mexicans, and meaning
smelling like vinegar, ranks next to
the Gila monster in vicious and poison
GUS characteristics. The vinagroom
(thelepholus excubiter) is found in the
Organ mountains. There is nothing like
1t but itself. 1t is a kind of compound
OF scorpion, lobster and three or four
kindred animals. 1t is four or five
inches long, with long stout claws, and
is of mottled-brown color.
Talking about strange features Of
animal life, we have on the Mojave
oesert a turtle that eats grass. 1t lives
in holes in the sand which it makes to
escape the intense heat of the sun. You
may take SUCK and get them out.
They are the Xerobates Agassizi. just
lately named for the great naturalist,
a very pretty turtle, that gets on good
feeding to be about ten inches long and
to weigh six to eight pounds. A woman
down on the desert last summer, where
l was, had eight or ten of them in an
open pen, which she was fattening to
eat They eat grass like horses. When
these turtles get fat. as they quickly
do on the grass, they beat all the roast
turkeys you ever ate. An ordinary one
of these turtles is worth So to S4.'