Weekly journal-miner., 1910-09-14
POISONOUS PRESENT
 PUZZLES SURVEYOR
CFrom Thursdays Dailyl

city and county surveyor, has taken
 novel and somewhat ghastly man ner in which to extend this official appreciation of past accommodations
 or to link the ties of friendship in
 lead-pipe eineh, forwarding to him
 yesterday one of the largest Gils
 monsters that has been seen in this
 country. The reptile was enclosed , in a wooden box, and properly label
 ed, so that the recipient could not possibly meet with any danger in opening it. The creature was later { taken to the Biles-Lockhart display
 windows and placed on exhibition, being viewed by many.
 It is one of the largest ever placed or exhibition here. It measures nine
 teen inches from the point of it, nose to the tip of its tail. It has all the characteristics of that venomous family. It is sluggish in its move ments and lies apparently lifeless, looking perfectly harmless.
 The exhibition of this reptile, and its apparently harmless condition, re- wives two noteworthy incidents of the early days in this Territory, when two men were bitten by the species, dissipating the statements of several writers, and especially one of last Sunday in the Los Angeles Examiner, that they are a harmless desert pro- duction. In recalling what occurred in 1878 at the old Tip Top mine, B. N. Belcher tells the story of Johnny Bostwick, who exeperimented too freely with a Gila monster captured near that place, and as a result of what for over one year he was par tially paralyzed and suffered untold agonies. Mir. Bostwick picked the apparently lifeless animal up in his hands and to make determinations whether it had fangs in its mouth. poked the index finger of his right hand into the opening. Then the jaws of the monster closed imme- diately, and his finger was perforated in a dozen different places, the holes being as large as a good sized needle. Before his finger could be released from the deadly grip, it took all his power, with large stick, to pry the mouth open.
 The reptile was killed later, and an investigation of the mouth show ed that each tooth of the many that were invisible in the flesh to the naked eye, had poisoned groove, re- sembling in miniature form the fang of the rattlesnake.
 Bostwick suffered great pain for several days, his arm turning purple Later he became unable to close his right eye, due to paralysis of the right side. Local antidotes were ap- piled, and later he was sent into the Bradshaw Mountains, where he remained for several months. Sub sequently he returned to Tip Top. and after two years partially reeov- cred from the bite. In all these months Bostwiek never slept a min ute without the use of medicines. He died about two years afterwards, it is believed, from the bite of the rep tile.
 Another case was that of Walter Vail of Tucson, who had presumably killed monster, and who tied it onto his saddle to bring it into Tue son. While riding along his hand accidentally swished to where the ami nal was dangling, and he was caught by the finger, and it was with great he released the grip of the monster. MT. Vail passed through a critical period between life and death for several days in that city, and later was taken overland to Los An geles for treatment by experts. While he recovered from the bite, he never regained his physical vigOr.
 Both men who met with these un- usual accidents a short time after ward lost every hair on his head. and were partially paralyzed and sui fered untold agonies. The bite of the Gila monster is regarded as bad as that of the Fir de Lance snake of the West Indies, and as yet there mas never been an antidote discovered to eounteract the poison of either rep tile.