The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-07
TRAGEDY OF DONKEY BILL


!, rattlesnSkes always give a warning rat
| tie before they strike. This IS not true
| OF our Pacific Coast rattlers. In TWEEN
| ty-five years experience hunting and
| camping on coast and mountains, / de-
clare that of the hundreds of rattlers
I that l have killed or have seen killed
1 not over one in three or four ever gave
any warning. / have seen horses put
their feet within six inches OF a coiled
! RATHER and go on, followed by other
! horses, and not a sound or movement was
| noticed from the snake. II the RATHER is
! coiied up taking sun bath. and knows
! he has not been discovered. ne may lie
! perfectly quiet, hoping Gt would SEEM 10
| lee the danger pass.
At the time the snakes shed their skins
| they are irritable. ard perhaps blind, and
{ then Il either man or beast comes near
! they rattle. But at other times they lie
/ quiet and give no warning to strike until
| one approaches.
| Several years ago prof. Riley" an
] itinerant Snowman of New York CITY,
| kept two or othree Pacific coast black
! rattlesnakes in Il box at his headquar-
/ tiers on the Bowery. 1 believe he kept a
! saloon, or resort OF some kind, and used
/ 10 exhibit these snakes. One evening.
! While showing the reptiles he became
careless and one of them struck him on
/ the wrist. Riley Immediately sent for
/ 4 also IOr Il lawyer Win a view
| to making his will. His friends tried TO
! cheer him, telling him that he would pun
through He said: NO, I'll not live
| twelve hours. These are the Pacific
! Coast black rattlers-the most deadly Of
! their species, and there is no cure where
| one has been bitten as l have" \ doc
/ tor came within ten minutes. In less
| than an hour several prominent physi-
! clans of the city were there, and not
] Nx-srb hai- clri u
that night.
If my memory is correct, I recall an ar
ticle written by Mr. Van Dyke ian ac-
knowledged authority upon all that per-
| tains to hunting, fishing and outdoor
sports) in which he says, in substance,
after describing the snakes fangs, that
"a person may be struck by RATHER and
recover. because of only a slight punct-
| ure having been made. owing TO leg
gings. trousers or other distractions, but
there is absolutely no cure where one has
struck fairly, and the affected part not
cut out within a very short time
I saw the effect of the strike of a large
RATHER upon a donkey. the donkey dying
within ten minutes after having received
the stroke. In an article in Outdoor Life
some two years ago, l related an account
of a hunting trip in which we killed nine
deer. AS my burro was killed on this trip,
| VIII describe the part in which the rat
tier laid out the donkey.
We broke camp on Potrero Abode on
the morning of July 5. 1885, and started
down the dry bed of the Sespe (Cess-pe)
to the gorge, distant some twelve or
thirteen miles. where there was plenty of
water in the river and good trout fishing.
We made camp near the stream for the
night, and caught trout enough for sup
per. On the morning of the 4th we lined
mp and fired a salute in honor of the day.
Then after fishing awhile we concluded TO
move down the canon several miles to
where there Were deeper pools, and larger
trout; so we packed up and started about
a. m. We were in fine spirits. had
killed all the deer we wanted. had met
with no accidents. and were en- route TO
the very best trout fishing to be found on
the coast. The horses and burrOS were
in good shape and travelled along finely.
My pet burro kept teasing the other
burros and his antics kept us laughing.
We were strung out along the trail, Sol
leading; then came my burro Billy. l
came next; then the others. As we
passed through a clump of willows 1 saw
Billy start, step aside quickly and then
turn around toward me and hold up his
near forefoot. l called to Sol to stop.
saying that the burro had hurt his foot
Sol stopped and from our saddles we saw
tiny stream of blood trickling down the
uouhty > IOOt- SOl Maybe ne :
snake-bit." l replied: mo, there is too
much blood" We started on and went
a few yards when Billy turned around,
came back near to me and held up his
foot and looked up at me so pitifully l
couldn't resist investigating. / saw that
he was trembling and called a halt. Just
then we heard shot. and, looking back.
saw that Fred had killed a large rattle
snake. We knew then that the donkey
oil a1 7
poured bottle of ammonia on the wound
and we also poured whisky down his
throat. The poor little burro was trern-
bling so that he could hardly stand we
bled him in the mouth. but the blood
that came was thick and black. and sud
denly the animal fell over. had three con-
vulsions and died. This snake had let
one horse pass. struck the donkey then
crawled alongside or under my horse and
two others following, and was crawling
along toward cover when Fred saw him
and killed him. yet in all these move
ments he did not rattle
When l saw my pet burro lying dead
my eyes filed with tears at sight of it,
Billy. who had carried my mack on so
many trips. and who used to come around
the camp and beg for a lump of sugar
or a cracker. He would browse on the
highest point near camp and at day.
break would call to us and keep II up
until / called to him in reply I dreaded
to go home and tell my boys that their
Billy. who had carried them so many
miles in their quest for game was lying
in canon over on the Sespe. and that
they had seen him for the last time.
One of my friends said as we stood
there looking on the dead burro: Boys
/ doubt whether one OF us would have
lived much longer If he had received that
stroke" This occurred in a hot canon
The canon is now called "Can-ya -de-la-
Burro." Adios, Billy. F. Newly.
Victor at Pratt.