The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-10-03
MOTHERS LIPS SAVE
SNAKE BITTEN CHILD

va .fE'#lIT HLL#ENF ..tHI.
st. Louis, Sept. Soften three times
by a copperhead snake one of the
deadliest of American o~phidians. little
Gertrude Waters. the 2-year-old daugh-l
ter of DR.. H. B. Waters. of so41 Nor
gan street, owes her life to the devo-
,tion and rare presence of mind of her
mother by applying her lips to the In
juries.
Mrs. Waters and her little daughter
were on a visit to the home OF Mrs.
John McMakin. Mrs. Walters mother,
,on a farm a few miles south OF Dixon,
mo.
/ Mrs. Waters was sitting on the ve-l
randa of the house. talking with her
mother while the little girl played I'M
the garden.
around the corner OF the house and
iwas out OF sight of it's mother.
Suddenly the screams Of h child
brought Mrs. Waters to her feet I'M
terror. She ran around the house and
found Gertrude on the ground and
lclose to her a snake coiled, striking at
her repeatedly. It's head shot forward
with deadly precision, but Its fangs, by
Sgood fortune, did not enter the child'e
mesh at every stroke, else there would
he a different tale to tell. .H5
Attacks the Snake.
Frantically the mother dashed at the
snake, which glided away, and Mrs..
Waters grasped her daughter up and
ran to the house.
There mother and grandmother barred
the child's leg and above the shoe top
found three punctures In the tenderI
flesh. where the snakes fangs had en-
tered.
! The leg was beginning to swell. ana
the agony caused by the poison madel
the screaming child writhe.
, without hesitation Mrs. Waters APP
piled her lips to the fang wounds and
drew fortf. blood and serum. AS She
spat 1t out 1t was discolored with the
venom, which had hardly had time to-
enter into the circulation. 0
Time n again h sucked the
wounds until she was exhausted by the
effort and the emotion the terrible
event a caused, when her place was
taken by her mother.
Meantime doctors had been telephoned
for, but before they arrived the child'9
limb a begun to swell, and this o
tinued until 1t reached her body, when
the skin began to turn black.
Two Chickens Used.
Mrs. McMackin had two chickens
killed n split open, and the warm and
still quivering bodies were bound upon
the wounds.
DR.. w. +. Rolens and DR.. L. e. Rolens
Of Dixon galloped from town to the
farm, and saw at once that heroic meas
ures were necessary to save h life OF
the child, as its breathing was begin
ming to be labored and the heart action
had almost ceased. !
They were afraid to administer whis-
ky to a child so young, b resorted to
other powerful stimulants, in the mean
while lancing the punctures, when
again Mrs. Waters h~eroically applied
her lips to the wound Ind drew the
venom out.
For several hours the child did not
rally, but gradually under the powerful
medication it recovered until now It Ia
we'll out of danger.
Remarkable Recovery.
This is the more remarkable, as the
venom of h copperhead is generally
deadly, even when 1t enters into the
circulation of al adult In such q GUAM
tity as could be administered by one
bite.
While Mrs. Waters was engaged In
withdrawing the venom from the bites.
Mrs. McMakin ven In search Of the
snake, which h found hiding beneath
a rose bush. N
Aiming herself with a stout switch
she bravely attacked 1t. the usual an
tipathy and fear which a woman has
for a snake giving way to anger. The
copperhead coiled itself and showed
fight, but the brave woman drove it
from cover and attacked II again and
again. and although the reptile re-
turned the attack she succeeded in kils
ing II.