Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-04-03
HIS FIRST TARANTULA.
The Traveller Who Found il i'm
His HotelBed Wantedit to be
His Last.

| NoiNt SHiii7 cilhoe up ana DOWN my
spinal column, said a Milwaukee
railroad man the other day. THE
reason for this is that at the little
town Of sulphur Springs, Texas, on
che Cotton Belt road, was where /
irst met with tarantula, and Of all
the crawling things in the grand
scheme Of nature the tarantula is to
me the most abhorent Tn ondi-
lions surrounding ny Introduction
% one of these fuzzy brown arach-
nids was IN way peculiar, and as
| look back upon the experience it
is not without It's humorous side. !
had spent several days OF Texarka-
na and was invited to take a trip
West with the manager Of the road
and the assistant freight agent in o
special car. After we had started I
inuocently asked If there we're any
tarantulns or centipedes in the State.
The two looked at each other. and
now ! understand that ia that look
there was an agreement to victimize
me, but was entirely unconscious
u y az the time
IA Centipedes, tarantulas, scorpi-
ions. lizards, said the manager i
should say there were
Why Of course there are, said
the freight agent.
Then those two men proceeded
20 tell me tales Of the prevalence Of
these venomous creatures and how
ouos Vie was never safe Tor az il.
slant anywhere IN The State. They
told zoe how they crawlod into the
bed, during the day and waited un.
CD night 70 give the death sting 10
ihcjr victim as be was peacefully
sleeping They explained how ID.
qualntances Of theirs had carelessly
put their hand 10 their coat pocket
TO be slung By one that bad crawled
thcrc while the article was hanging
from a hook For the greater part
a thetJt9R Yhtg gbrqRa giiqpfd .
aginci 'aat ! could Il the things
crawling up my .rouscrs legs, aud
II my hand nucuusciously touched
anything soft was certain II was q
tarautula. but I did my best to keep
thom from knowing the effect their
stories were having on my nerves.
Toward evening we reached the
town 81 sulphur Springs. aud as the
depot was fuliy twumiles from town
aud u was necessary to remain IN
the town several hours. it was de-
cidCd that we remain over night at
The hotel when we reached the
hotel we found there were but two
rooms LETT, aHd the froiglitageutaud
myself were assigned TO a dou BILE
room Il was about 10 clocl, when
we retired and was exceedingly
nervous about spidcra aud reptiles.
The hotel was an old frame building,
aud my companion was kind enough
70 inform mo that il was just the
sort 81 house tarnntuas would
seek Al the Same time he smiled
and ! realized that he was enjoying
the days Joking He afterwards
told me that ac had never seen q
tarantua outside of o bottle OF nlco-
| hol IA a druggists store when We
had put out The light aud retired he
started again II appeared that he
/ had reserved the most thrillingyarr
for this particular occasion, and
listened intently 70 a tragedy in
which tarantula was one Of the
principal characters. BEFORE he
finished felt something strike my
leg, which was covered with sheet
but said nothing, not wishing to in
terrupt the story As soon as i
was finished remarked that some
thing had struck my leg.
" Get up and see what it was,
said he, aud his tones indicated |
degree Of fear that surprised me.
! did as he suggested. Lighting
the lamp, carried it over to tn,
bed and the white-robed freigh
agent followed closely. As the ray
Of the light struck the bed there il
the very center Of it was as fine
specimen Of tarantula as | hay
ever seen. ] looked at my compan
ion, and his face was as white as hi
nightrobe,
DO you think it bit you?' he ask
! ed.
No, | replied i am certai
it did not
Well, lets get rid Of the thing
he said. So we secured a windo'
j. stick and after inducing the spide
+ to crawl onto the end Of it steppe
tbroneyb tha window onto the norc