Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-23
SNAKES ARE HARMLESS.
Man Who Catches Reptiles for a Liv-
ing Does Not Fear Them.

From the Boston Globe.
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 a snake hunt to the Blue hills the other
day and was shown concluslvely that there
need be no fear of anybody getting killed
from a bite of a snake in this vicinity.
When the party arrived at the Blue hills
Mr. Mason donned leather gloves, leather
CATERS and unfolded his snake-catchng ap-
paratus, long stick, from which hung
stout string tied to a sort of a dredging
machine This machine was attached to
the 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 1t over the snakes body,
pulls the string, and his snakeship is no
longer at liberty.
We'll" said Mr.. Mason, after the first
snake was caught. did he run after mo
or did have TO run after him?'
You see' said he, without waiting for
a reply, ''if had gone about my own busl-
ness as it were, that snake would now be
en1oying the pleasure of basking in the
hot sun No" continued he, "a vicious
dog would have turned on me without
provocation, but no matter how vicious
snake is, he Will avoid conflict.
II have gone into den of nearly 100
snakes and not one of them turned on me
until cornered. and then the fun began.
Time and again have been bitten, but nave
not yet met anything snake shaped that
fear. If l were to show the white feather
things might be different. but l know what
to do when there is danger around.
Near Randolph, about two miles away
from the nearest electric road. catch az
least twenty rattlers to one copperhead
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 different
snake poisons under way. The copper
heads are most plentiful at or near the
crags at Milton, very far away from places
visited on Sunday by picnicking parties.
They run high two pounds in
weight and five feet long. Bull snakes, Of
which there are none in the vicinity, weigh
as much as eight pounds. and are at least
ten feet long. | have fought them, and am
ready to do so again.
"Once 1 fought fourteen rattlers. It took
me two hours to get the last one, and
though they were mad hornets / got
the last one without harm, all alive.
Strange 1t may SEEM" said Mr.. Ma
son. as he stroked the head of one of the
snakes which had ventured to the top of
the bag in which it had been put women
are not much afraid of snakes are
the sterner sex A woman will naturally
shrink from a 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 viii
do l am doing now ten times quicker
than | could get man to do ii. II is the
same with women, and dogs. Men like
dogs. but would not give them the Same
attention 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 ii is told that on April II Mr..
Mason caught twenty-six snakes, all told.
Some of item were four feet long,
When brought to Boston the snakes are
put into a large packing case covered with
wire netting. Here they are fed. great
On dark DAYS Professor 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 bottled up and
labeled, to be used later for the edhca-
ton of students.
When the proper kind are caught they
are fattened and killed for oil. The latter
is used for many things mostly for beautt-
flying purposes, after ii is made into a
cream for the skim
Large bull snakes, those Weighing eight
pounds will give -four ounces of oil II
caught in the fall a fair-sized snake will
have enough fat to keep 1t 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.