Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1904-09-29
DEADLY SNAKES OF FLORIDA.
One Species, Known AZ the FLAPS"
as Venomousi as the Egyp-
tian Asp.

Z p
A little man with gray hair and; shay
gy, almost white. burnsides. strolled
through the lobby of the National hotel
few evenings ago, says the New York
Sun Of recent date. He stopped and
talked for moment with the clerk, and
then opening handbag and thrustiIs
his arm within, pulled forth q long
SNAKE which he held up to view.
He was James Bell, postmaster q
Gainesville, Fla. He is believed to have
handled as many snakes as any other
man in the world. Some of his friends
at home call him Judge Bell. while to
others he is known as Maj. Bell. He has
a right to both titles, for he has served
as Judge OF the court of his county and
he was a major In the civil war, having
been member of the First and Thirty
seventh New York regiments. He ID .
native of Brooklyn. N. Y.
After the war he drifted to Florida
and he has since been supplying snakes
to the Smithsonian institution and
other customers. public and private.
Here are some of his observations about
Florida snakes. "a
"A popularity about snakes is that II
you bruise one the skin will slough on
and the ants will eat it alive. Any snake
wounded in this way is bound to die. Il
a healthy snake comes in contact with Q
dead snake the odor Is sure to be re-
tanned and the ants will attack tho
healthy snake and eat It.. have seen
many such cases.
"Where q snake thus dies in captivity
with others the only way to preserve the
rest is to put fresh earth in the cage and
isolate the cage in water so the ants
can't get to it. Even then you may be
defeated. Ants are persistent. and their
appetite for dead snake meat is In
satiable. ,4.~r
Seventeen years ago or there
abouts, Shindler, the artist Of the Smith
sonian institution, had an exciting ex-
perience with snake sent. He was
great painter Of fishes and animals.
~ had . calico. or thunder snake. .
II h called In Florida, but the true scisn-
tiac name OF which IL the slaps. It -
brilliantly colored and seldom grows
more than 10 inches in length. IT. rings
are yellow. black and red.
Few persons bitten by the elaps ever
lived more than six or eight hours. Ito
bite is similar to that of the Egyptian
asp. The victim falls into comatoso
condition and it becomes hard to rally
him.
1.-THE markings Of this particular elaps
were somewhat out of the usual and
asked, in sending 1t to the Smithsonian.
that it be examined carefully to DETER
mine whether it were really an elaps or
new species. "
"Shindler, who had been a great adj
mirer of snakes up to that time, and had
many pet harmless ones in his room.
didn't believe it was an elaps. He be-
gan to handle it carelessly. Superin-
tendent Koran maintained that It was
an elaps and advised caution.
"Some ladies happened to be in Shinc-
ler's room, and, to show that there was
no danger, he drew his hand across the
snakes face Then he snapped its head
with his fingers -
1.-THE snake caught one Of his fingers
by fang. Unlike other poisonous
snakes, the elaps, instead of striking.
hangs on like bulldog, Shindler had
to choke it from his finger.
"Horan told him to see doctor, but
Shindler laughed and declared the bite
was harmless. A few minutes later he
noticed sharp pains in his arm. He ex-
amined his finger closely and found
red streak.
"Then he went to DR.. Taylor Of the in
stitution Other doctors were called in.
They all worked fully 36 hours over him
before he was restored to conscious
ness.
"A peculiar feature of Shindler's poi
sonirg by an elaps was that every year,
on the anniversary of the day he was
bitten, that finger would swell up, and
become liberated and the nail would
come of. So would theo utter cEttcle OF
the hand. w.
1T continued to do this several years.
each year apparently getting worse. A
friend in South America then sent him
medicine which checked its recurrence"
Cold Storage VI Arl1es.