The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-27
SOME AWFUL DEATHS.
FEARFUL FORMS IN WHICH THE
 GRIM DESTROYER CALLS.
Tine Venom of South Australian Spider and the Frightful Agony 1t ttma Having Maniac.

Spider and the Frightful Agony 1t
 causes-A Grain That Makes its vic-
 tima Having Maniac.
 What is the most awful shape in which death may come to mortal man? Not by fire, nor by water, nor by gum shot These are mere pleasures to some of the deaths by which you may die. The most agonizing of all is caused by an insect half the size of pea-a small black spider. It lives in Peru and South Australia, but few specimens have reached Europe and America in shiploads of timber. Not long ago dock laborer was unlucky enough to come upon one in the Victoria docks 1 while unloading bark. The tiny death dealer dropped upon the back of his hand and dug its fangs into his
 flesh The bite itself was nothing, but
 as soon as the poison began to work
 the man tainted with pain. Soon after
 ward he came to and lived three days
 before the end came.
 This spiders venom scorches up the
 blood vessels and spreads through all
 the tissues, causing the most fearful ag-
 ony a human beingaca have to bear.
 The worst of it is that the victim lives at least two days, enduring unthinkable
 anguish the whole time. This spider is luckily not common. It is known as the
 "specky," and when a man who knows
 what the bite means is bitten he gene
 rally blows out his brains.
 Another fearful death is caused by
 eating a grain called "bhat." This
 sometimes gets mixed with rice, which
 it resembles. The plant grows in the
 east, and few grains of it will drive
 one into a state of violent mania. The
 vicaim becomes drowsy at first and af-
 terward hilarious, then he goes stark,
 staring mad and tears himself literally
 to pieces with his fingers, biting mouth fuls out of his limbs. It is bad enough to see such a case, but as for eXperien-
 cling it.
 } This grain is only found in remote parts of the east, but both white men
 and natives are killed by it occasionally in the east for the plant grows in with the rice crop and can scarcely be tolc = apart, but that the dried grain is of g
 reddish color.
 Of course falling into a vat of boiling metal, as unfortunate workmen some l times do, sounds bad enough, but it i:
 mercifully quick. There is Soutl American vine called the 'knotter,' : which is far worse. It twines around e any living thing that comes within s reach, twisting its long tentacles abou = man as devilfish might These ten tacles scar and burn into the flesh lik' white hot wires, and the victim i
 dragged into the heart of the foliag and his juices slowly drained, as spi \ der sucks the blood of fly.
 ,S t All say that the pain is worse thai ;, they could have believed it possible fo Il a man to feel The "knotter' Is wei known to scientists and is, in fact,
 sort of huge flytrap plant. Those wh N have strong instincts of cruelty, cou s pied with curiosity, sometimes force ', dog into the grip of the "knotter'' t Y, watch the effects, which are too horrl e ble to describe in detail
 a Again. there is nothing very muc ,~ worse than hydrophobia, when genuine s The patient often lives for days in tn Y acute stage and in his last hours is sim ,e ply tied up in knots and bent backWar
 and forward like a bow. It is yer >- rare disease with human beings, fo d most people bitten by rabid dogs, I small number at most escape it. In eS ,r trerne cases the patient actually snarl r. and bays like any hound, and, next h experiencing it, the worst thing is to watch a case. It is as distressing is spectacle as any man could witness. ,d There is a snake called the "lancer, l. which lives in South America, and IS very ready with it's fangs. It is snal B. brown, insignificant beast, but it's bit l. induces sort of imaginary swelling a le over the victims body. He feels as to every inch of him were being straine st to breaking point, and the agony Whic h. results is too awful for words. Gen' lg rally, however, the excess of pain drive Ie the bitten man mad before very lon xt and in four hours he dies-a sensele: on imbecile.
 tn But, all said and done, perhaps thel
 is no death much worse than by u el- common disease of cancer, which gnav on at the patients vitals through mont ed after month of unceasing agony ar on stays its victim at last through she st exhaust stion.-London Spectator