The Minneapolis journal., 1902-03-21
HIDES OF RATILERS
A Prominent Feature of "Diamond
Dick" Refferton's Costume.
HE IS FOND OF RATHER STEAKS
They Saved His Life Once and He
Acquired the
-- Taste.

| The picturesque young man with the
sombrero, corduroy clothes and general
| wild west ensemble, who attracted at
| tention about the down town streets this
| morning was Diamond Dick Refferton,
! a Nevada nabob. who is bound for New
| York. s<
! Several half-intoxicated individuals
who encountered Dick in the occasional
saloons where he sought refreshments got
the impression they, had 'em again." and
! made a quick getaway from his immedi-
ate vicinity. This was because the west
erner had adorned his person with divers
| and sundry rattlesnake hides well calcu-
| lated to give any one the shivers who has
ever come within close range of the rep
tiles. The band of his sonlbrero was the
nicely mottled hide of young 'un that
Dick had dispatched while 1t was con
sidering project to tunnel his skin. On
either side of the hat, rising from the
| band were what looked like partridge
fea theirs, but on closer examination were
found to be rattlers.
About his middle, dividing the negligee
shirt from the trousers band. was the
skin OF a monster snake which he had
converted into a belt. Dick also wears
rattlesnake cuffs, and is otherwise fixed
out in a manner calculated to make the
nervous, shiyer.
1t was Dicks easy, familiar way OF
talking about his intimate relations with
snakes that put most of his hearers to the
bad. This was especially the case, when
he told OF srbsisting on rattle-snake meat
for days at time as a regular diet. 1t
was while he was out on a prospecting
trip that he found that rattlers were good
eating. The party ran out Of food and
when the pangs of hunger became un-
bearable they went after snakes, the only
animal food to be found in that vicinity
''They saved our lives said Renerton
ssand I wants to tell you right here that
rattlesnake is all right. I've been eating
il ever since, and consider it a table
delicacy They taste best fried and the
flavor is a good deal like oysters. The
meat is a clean, white and wholesome,
and I've discovered that it is great
muscle developer. It'll make you as
strong as Sampson or Sandow on steady
diet. That's what it's done for me-"
Here Dick pulled out a horse shoe from
the depths Of his big side pocket and bent
it straight Then he doubled up big
steel spike and gave other strength tests
which left no doubt but that he was there
with the muscle.
The belt he wears is made from the
skin OF a big rattler, which killed Refer
toms 'side- -kick'-a man named Phil
brook in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Some of the party had located big mug
get OF gold, and secreted it in hole In
the ground Philbrook was wise" to
the cache and during the night he de-
cided to take leave with the treasure.
The rattler had taken refuge along side
of the nugget, and when Philbrook
reached his hand into the hole the snake
bit him. His yells aroused the rest of
the party and they killed the snake. The
unfortunate man died the next day
Nurtured in the lap of nature in her
widest moods, this interesting frontiers
man has broken into civilization for the
first time, and is now visiting the big
cities, just to see what's the difference
between the real thing and life in min
ing town.
sDick' and his '.dad' made ten
strike recently while prospecting near his
home, 125 miles up the Carson river from
Garden Well, New. When he struck it
rich he was seized with wild impulse to
travel and Sc life in the effete east. The
only big cities he has yet visited are Chi
cago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. After
he has seen New York he will be content
to go back to the cactus and sage-brush.
He saw his first railroad train a few
months ago. ~