Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-09
its BITE IS FATAL
ella Monster is the Most
Dreaded Of Reptiles.
NO KNOWN REM EDY
INCREASING IN NUMBERS IN THE
SOUTHWEST.
Hualipis Have an Antidote, the Nature
of Which They Will Not
Reveal.


Roman.
That the ella monster is the most dam
gerous creature to human life in the desert
regions of the southwest, and that there
is no remedy known to science which Will
act as an antidote to its poison. is the opln-
ion of Prof William Wetherbee, who Tor
nearly year has been making a scientific
study of this reptile in the interests of ex-
periments which for some time have been
prosecuted by the state of California.
To prove his assertion that death ensues
in almost every instance where the poison
of that creature enters the human system,
Prof. Wetherbee gives the results of his
long sojourn in the deserts of Arizona ana
California, where during twelve months OF
experiment twenty cases came under his
notice, all but three of which ended fatally
In proof of his assertion that since the
thinning out of the Indians the ella mon
ster is rapidly increasing in number, and
that it is becoming a serious menace to lie
in those regions he points out that more
deaths have occurred from its bite during
the last two years than are recorded in the
previous five.
During this time five little children, four
women, seven white men and nearly twice
as many haIf-breeds and Indians have
fallen victims of the elias bite, and 1t ls
probable that there are other cases which
have never been heard of. Several of the
fatalities occurred during the sweltering
summer weeks that l was with Prot.
Wetherbee.
A Secret Remedy.
So formidable do these facts appear that
President DiaZ has been asked to use his
influence in discovering the remedy which
has long been known to exist among the
Hualipis, Mexican tribe of Indians who
o1U their anti6Ote secret
and have baffied the attempts of many
scientists to secure it, among them the
famous DR.. Shufeldt. This is not the first
time that President Diaz has been inter
ested in the matter of securing a remedy
for the elias bite. A number of years ago
the medical authorities of California asked
him to secure the prescription used among
the Hualipis, ana it is said that not only
did Diaz detail special officers to the work.
but when they failed, the president went
personally among the Hualpis in his eff
forts to secure the antidote. Because of
superstitious belief that the remedy, which
is also said to be efficacious in combating
the fatal effects of rattlesnake poison, was
direct blessing from their gods, and
should be kept secret the Hualipis refused
to disclose it. Afterward, Shufeldt and sew
eral California physicians went personally
among the Indians, but with as little sue
cess. That antidote must be found is
realized by both the medical authorities OF
California and Arizona.
The regions infested by the 'mottled ter
ror'' are rapidly becoming inhabited, and
each year sees a big increase in the white
population. For many years, perhaps for
hundreds Of them, the Pima, Apache, Mari
copah and Yuma Indians, who little feared
the bites of rattleSnakeS or centipedS
waged a cautious and systematic war of
determination against the elias. but as
these tribes have thinned out the mon
sters'' have increased alarmingly, until
there are now some places where scores Of
them may be met with in a single day.
With the increasing population of white
people, the majority of whom yet bear
no especial enmity toward the ella, it is
thought that the annual death list from
their bites will rapidly grow.
In Their Natural Homes.
To prosecute his experiments Prof. Weth-
erbee followed the course of the ella river,
where the monsters have always been
found in the greatest numbers. For weeks
at a time he watched the reptiles in their
natural homes before attempting to capture
Them In his cabin near Castle Dome noun
tains he at one time had fifty of them cap
tive, and it was then that he succeeded in
securing for the first time enough poison to
experiment with. Irritating the creatures,
he succeeded in getting them to bite vi
ciously at the edge of a thin plate, where
the poison gradually accumulated in the
form of a thick, syrupy secretion. In con-
trast to most serpent venoms which are
acid, the elias poison was of alkaline
nature. During these experiments one of
the reptiles caught Mexican assistant Iy
the thumb. Screaming with terror. the
man beat the creature frantically against
the side of the cabin, until Prof. Wetherbee
secured knife and chopped it in two. Every
stimulant and remedy at hand were in turn
employed, but the Mexican gradually fell
into a stupor, and within twenty minutes
was dead.
1t was after this fatality that became
personally interested in Prof. Wetherbees
,Nrx <tr,cr ", Govt ,,,1t ;<,,,
with him in his little Arizona cabin.
For several years / had experimental
with Gila monsters, but had never regarded
them as more dangerous than rattlesnakes.
had had the opportunity of seeing the poi
son act fatally in the case of human beings,
and had experimental with it on animals;
but so far was convinced that what would
save a man from rattleSnakeS bite would
also save him from elias that 1 made
pets of two Arizona monsters" and often
allowed them to climb up my arms and
breast, playing, as it were, with absolute
death.
Death Comes Quickly.
That escaped death seems to me moth
ing short of a miracle, after knowing more
of the nature of a elias bite. The poison
obtained by Professor Wetherbee was tried
on a number of animals. A small quantity
injected into one of the wild Indian dogs
caused death in less than two minutes.
Birds and smaller animals brought for the
purpose of experimenting upon died much
more quickly.
One afternoon in August We were inter-
rupted in our experiments by a haif-Mcx-
lean ranchero, who tore up excitedly on his
mustang. crying that his daughter had been
bitten by a ella. Less than an hour after
the girl had been bitten we were back at
her side. The victim was about twenty
years old. with bright, pretty face, and
Immediately complained that though she
was suffering intense pain, she seemed to
be paralyzed. and could move her hands
and limbs only with great difficulty. A lit
tie later after stimulants had been admin
istered, she began crying out In agony,
saying that her head was splitting. Grad
ually the pain seemed to leave her, and a
few minutes before death Inconsistencies