The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-21

| fprietor had collected on his snake
 hunting excursions. Unfastening the
 door of one of the cases, Pete stirred
 up the whole den with long stick
 The coiled serpents suddenly emerged | from their lethargic state and dozen
 angry-looking heads were shot into the air, amid perfect storm of prolonged l hissings and shrill rattlings. Inserting his hand cautiously, the artist seized ! one of the deadly crawling creatures behind the head and brought it out into the air wriggling and frantic with rage. | The end of the tail, which was com posed ot a series of loose, bony rings, was vibrated with amazing rapidity,
 and the volume of the sound was in creased as the rapidity of the vibration was increased. Placing silver spoon in front of the snake, MT. Gruber al lowed it to strike out viciously at the
 metal, whereupon the dip of the spoon was covered with the amber colored venom which was discharged in two streams from the mouth. This, Pete explained, was the method he used to procure the venom for the laboratories which he supplied. The doctors assure him, he said, that the poison is worth a dollar a drop. A rattlesnake always has a supply on hand and Is able to throw the charge anywhere from one to two feet. The severity of the bite de- pends upon the amount of poison de- posted in the wound by the fangs.
 "A rattlesnake bite" he continued, after he had fastened the door of the den, ordinarily isn't so very dangerous. If you only know how to treat it. I've been bitten fourteen times by rattlers and more than fifty times by all kinds of snakes. The doctors say that Pm immune to the poison, but that isn't so, eor the last two bites have affected me more severely than, any of the oth- CTS, and have impaired my eyesight. l always keep kit containing antidotes and instruments for administering them near at hand The minute one of the creatures sinks its fangs into me begin to pour down whiskey. This is the only occasion when I indulge in intoxicating drink, and I may say here that the man who drinks much has a poor chance for recovery from snake bite compared with the temperate man. But on this particular occasion l drink until I'm drunk. Maybe you've heard that you can't get drunk when snake poison is in your system, but I've al ways found that whiskey would make the fuddle come no matter how many times you've been prodded.
 This, however, is only the first step in the treatment, and the most agreed 1A At Tol ipo q lQ n jack knife, if the former is not handy, I slash the flesh just behind the wound to the bone, so as to get as much of the poison as possible out in this way. If there isn't any sharp instrument avail able, it's good thing to suck the bite. Before I've felt the effects of the whis- key I inject into the circulation by means of a hyporedmic syringe solu- ton of permangenate of potash, and then I soak the affected part in kero- sene for about an hour. After being bitten one's flesh feels like your foot does when it's asleep; the arm, if the bite is on the hand, begins to swell and becomes discolored and the tongue also becomes swollen. Shortly after the tn- tidotes have been administered l be- come deathly sick, but if they are suc- cessful the pain will soon diminish and great blood -clots will come from the wound. The swelling and stiffness however, won't entirely disappear for a long time. Once acting on the advice of stranger I soaked my middle fln- ger in ammonia. It took off the skin and partially routed the flesh so that I've had a pretty bad member ever since Sometime the poison affects people peculiarly. know a man whose arm has spotted up during July and August for fifteen years, and his eye sight during those months is also poor.
 How do I get the snakes I buy some Snakes are sold by the pound and by the foot. They are worth from fifty to eighty-five cents per pound, and from thirty-five cents upward per foot But the most of them I catch myself Every summer I go down into Pennsylvania on my annual hunting trip I look forward to this excursion with as much pleasure as the fisherman who contemplates his summer outing. I generally go before July, for during that month and August, the creatures go blind and strike out madly in all directions at every round A forked stick about four feet long, with a bag or box to carry the game, Is all the tackle needed. On account of an ex- perience which I had last year, though, I'm prejudiced against using bags, es- pecially paper bags.
 One bright day in June had taken fifteen ratters and couple of copper heads. On the way home the paper flour sack in which I had put my gave way, and for more than an hour had to herd the crawlere in the road while Johnny ran to the netr- est house for another bag.
 1T stay out every season until I've some heal sport, and I usually bring back abuot 100 snakes Thirty-five is the biggest catch I ever made in one day There is one thing that every hunter ought to know. If he sees tail protruding from beneath a ledge of rock, l caution him against pulling out the prize by grasping the part in sight or even putting his hand near 1t, for hidden only a short dis tance from that tail, in such a position that it can watch the approach of every object is head which will prick his hand before it has reached the ground Lying thus, the snake Is watching for game.
 Most of their feeding, though is mice, chipmunks and the like. Because