Arizona republican., 1909-10-21
AWFUL EXPERIENCE
 WITH GILA MONSTER
Jack Meadows Relates a Little History
 and Arizona Folk love.

Jack Meadows, a brother of Arizona Charlie, arrived here two or three days ago from Roosevelt. where he has been working for some time past. He is en route 10 Western Arizona, where he proposes to try his luck in pros pecting Meadows is an Arizonian of the earliest vintage and the story of an Indian massacre in which certain members of his family, including his father were killed, is one of the his torical incidents of the country. But Jack himself suffered lapse of affec- tion for the country for about eighteen years, which time he spent in Aus tralia. He has been back some time, as though he had been here all the time. His early day orbit, when he was little more than a boy, was through these parts, then he retired to the Tonto Basin region and drifted out across the water.
 It is with considerable interest, therefore, that he is now looking over Phoenix after an absence of a quarter of a century or more. He says he made the first adObes that were used in building construction in Globe in 1875, and the same year he took by preemption a quarter section of land somewhere on the present Phoenix townsite or close to it. He cannot de- fine the locality now, for things have changed so much, and in those days the city was quite modest, boasting of only two stores. He sold his land short time afterward for scarcely enough for a grub stake.
 After a general inspection of the town the other day. Meadows said the only familiar looking objects he could find was a couple of Gila monsters in Balke's sidewalk display and then he proceeded to relate a little personal incident of considerable interest. In those days there was a popular belief that not only was the bite of the Gila monster poisonous, but that to even get close enough to smell its breath was also fatal. Meadows says that he is the only man of record in the early days who ever got nicely satur- ated with a Gila monsters breath and recovered, and this is how it happened:
 He was journeying down the Has sayampa river with a prospecting outfit and had an old soldier with him. They got down this side of Wickenburg and ran out of some of the necessaries of comfortable camp life. so the soldier took horse and came on to Phoenix for such supplies as he could carry, including, of course. such quantity of whisky as might be needed for emergencies. Meadows stayed with the outfit and plugged along as he could. He had travelled until late one night. then built little camp fire, made his coffee and par taken of his evening meal and then spread his blankets.
 He had not been stretched out long before he smelled a peculiar odor As 1t kept getting stronger he finally got up and made a careful search Rais- ing one side of his blanket he was both amazed and frightened to see a Gila monster. In two minutes he be- gan to feel faint and soon he inn agined his throat was burning with fever. It seemed to him that he was getting dizzy and he was fearful that soon he would go into convulsions But he resolved first of all to dispatch the deadly Gila monster and. seizing a stick, he did so quickly. All the time he was growing more and more i'll and just before he lost conscious ness he discovered that one end of his blankets had been thrown over the camp fire and were smouldering. the burning wool being the cause of the sickening odor
 His recovery was more rapid than his illness and by the time his soldier friend returned there. was hardly an excuse left to take drink.