Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-08
SNAKES ARE HARMLESS.
Man Who Catches Reptiles for Living
Does Not Fear Them.


There is one man in Boston who has no
fear Of women invading his line OF trade,
and up to the present time he is the only
man. as far as is known, In this state who
is professional snake catcher.
This man is o. w. Mason, who does not
think his living is In any way strange for
he considers snakes far less harmless than
dogs or any other pets.
A Globe reporter accompanied Mr. Mason
on snake hunt to the Blue hills the other
day and was shown conclusively that there
need be no fear of anybody getting killed
from bite of snake in this vicinity.
When the party arrived at the Blue hills
Prof. Mason donned leather gloves. leather
CATERS and unfolded his snake-catching ap-
paratus, a long stick, from which hung
stout string tied to sort of a dredging
ma chine
This machine was attached tdethe part of
the stick nearest the ground and is worked
with the string attachment. When a snake
is seen Mr.. Mason with the stick in the,
right hand, string in the left, follows 1t,
places it over the snakes body, pulls the
string and his snakeship is no longer at
liberty.
well" said Mr. Mason, after the first
snake was caught, did he run after me or
did have TO run after him?"
You see,' said he, without waiting for
reply. ''if had gone about my own bust
ness, as it were, that snake would now be
enjoying the pleasure of basking in the hot
sun. No" continued he, "a vicious dog
would have turned on me without provoca-
ton, but no matter how vicious snake is,
he will avoid a conflict.
Il have gone into a den of nearly 100
snakes and not one of them turned on
me until cornered, and then the fun began.
Time and again I have been bitten, but
have not yet met anything snake-shaped
that l fear. If l were to show the white
feather things might be different, but
know what to do when there is danger
around.
Near Randolph, about two miles awav
from the nearest electric road. catch at
least twenty rattlers to each one copper
head. There are to be found the old Indian
roads, unknown to any but professors from
the different colleges that accompany me
when there is an investigation of the diff
ferent snake poiSons under way. The cop
perheads are most plentiful at or near the
crags at Milton, very far away from places
visited on Sunday by picnicking parties.
They run as high two pounds in
weight and five feet long. Bull snakes, OF
which there are none in this vicinity, weigh
as much as eight pounds and are at least
ten feet long. l have fought them, and am
ready to do so again.
Once fought fourteen rattlers. 1t took
me two hours to get the last one, and
though they were as mad as hornets / got
the last one without harm, all alive.
Strange as 1t may SEEM" said Mr.. Ma
son. as he stroked the head of one of the
srakes which had ventured to the top of
the bag in which it had been put, women
are not as much afraid of snakes as are
the sterner sex. A woman will naturally
shrink from snake, but this Is due to fear.
When, however, she Is told that no harm
Will result from patting its head this way
she will forget her fear and will do as l
now doing ten times quicker than 1
could get a man to do 1t. 1t is the same
with women and dogs. Men like dogs, but
would not give them the same attention as
women do"
Though the best time of the year for
catching purposes Is the first two weeks in
May, an idea may be given of the number
caught when 1t is told that on April II Mr..
Mason caught twenty-six snakes, all told.
Some of them were four feet long.
When brought to Boston the snakes are
put into large packing covered with
wire netting. Here they are fed great
care being taken to give them plenty of
water.
On dark days Prof. Mason kills those
best suited to his taste-that is the ones
that will bring him the most profit.
The poison taken from them is bottled up,
and later sold to colleges at a good profit.
Then the bodies are bottled up and labeled,
to be used later for the edification of stu
dents.
When the proper kind are caught they
are fattened and killed for OIL The latter
is used for many things, mostly for beauti-
flying purposes. after 1t is made into a
cream for the skin.
Large bullsnakes, those weighing eight
pounds. will give four ounces of oil. II
caught in the fall fair-sized snake will
have enough fat to keep it alive for nine
months. and this fat can be turned into
money through the oil process The bull
snake oil is the best kind.
Its skin Is worth 81. the oil is worth 81,
and the states where they are caught give
a bounty of 81 for each one killed The
eastern market secures them for the price
that the oil and skin would bring.