The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1914-07-10
A NIGHT OF TERROR
Peculiar Experience With a Dead
~ Mexican TarantuIa.
PENNED IN A DARK BEDROOM.
The Trying Ordeal Through Which a
Woman Tourist Passed In a Hotel at
Vera cruz-Awsitins the Bite That
Meant Madness and Then Death.

| woman Tourist Passed In Hotel at
Vera Cruz-Awaiting the Bite That
Meant Madness and Then Death.
The tarnntula il much larger In Mex
leo than in Italy. His four pairs Of
fuzzy legs. his specked bullying belly,
his abnormally fat head. armed with
vicious nippers and equipped with eight
Eyes arranged In transverse rows. suf-
dee to ill you with a wholesome desire
to give him the right of way without
ado.
Owing to the fact that he has an I'M
welcome habit of leaving his own
realm In the tropical vines to make
sociabIe little visitations to the cor
ners Of your bedroom 1t had always
been my custom to search every nook
and crevice Of my sleeping room be-
fore retiring for the night Twice had
seen native iaborers. poems, In the
agony Of death due TO tarantula bite.
So II was not surprising that this
creeping thing headed my list Of the
many dangers to he stunned In Mex
leo.
] had just reached Vera Cruz from
Mexico City. very tired. and decided to
seek my room early 10 the evening
which. indeed. Is the only safe ana
proper thing for an unaccOmpanied
woman In Mexico TO do. That part OF
the diIigencias In which my room was
located was evidently undergoing re-
pairs, for pile Of tiinbers was includ.
ed In the furnishing Of my apartments.
| No particular reason occurred TO the
why ! should investigate this lumber.
and. little realizing that It might shell
ter lurking danger. flung my weary
head on the dirty pillow. But AZ lay
quietly doing of to sleep suddenly
heard soft little noise. which one
might describe as a cross between a
hum and hiss.
As a precaution against the many
venomous things that creep and crawl
even in the well beaten paths Of Mex
leo had made careful study of the
arachnids. to which clnss the tarantu-
has belong. ! recognized that soft I'M
ostentatious warning that announced a
roommate as undesirable as one could
well wish.
Y Cautiously ! stretched out my hand
to see II by chance there were some
matches on the little stand near my
bed. with the result that I knocked the
unlighted candle upon the floor. That
was enough for my mettlesome room.
mate; he had been personally insulted
by the noise. and suddenly in the utter
darkness. that black stiffness which
one feels In a strange room. detected
sickening Odor. the warning Of the
angry tarantula.
! strained my ears to detect the soft.
characteristic click that the male. the
deadliest Of the species. employs as a
blood chilled as I heard his muffled
hum-click. hum-click. hum-apparent-
ly not three feet away. I held my
breath. incidentally my nose. and lay
wondering how long 1t would be ere I
should feel his big fuzzy feet sneaking
IN the side Of my neck or before his
soft woolly body would light upon my
face. 1t was not ut all comforting 20
remember that one Of tarantula's &C.
centricities il to 6nd his way to point
on the ceiling directly over the object
Of his anger and then to drop uncere-
moniously upon his victim.
1t was the only time In my life when
] iOnged for the bliss Of ignorance.
Would to heaven I had not studied this
hideous horror Of the tropics. But I
had. Moreover. l had-seen the awful
effects of bis worse than fatal bite.
whose work Of destruction was merci-
lessiy long drawn out. vr.
II the bite Of a male tarantula infects
q large artery II throws the victim into
incipient stages OF the poisoning are &C.
companisd by accumulated mela ncholia.
followed by shattering Of the mental
fly. On gradually absorbing the venom
the unfortunate subject reels and raves
10 mad whiri until he swoOns from
pure exhaustion. The tarantella. the
graceful Italian dance so often de-
scribed In musical literature. derives its
name from this hideOus poisoning.
All this and more darted through my
mind AS ! lay there In the darkness
wondering II !. too. We're doomed to
die like dervish. As the night wore
on the bnzzing grew less sedulous. !
lay mofionless during the thousand
years till dawn. which came at last. a
divinely soft. blue. shimmering shaft Of
light. which made things family WIS.,
lille. Cautiously drew myself up to
sitting posture and craned my neck In
a searching survey about my chamber
OF horrors.
There. In torture worse than mine.
hung my roommate. four OF his legs
pinioned beneath the timbers. There
he spra wled. u MANNED but angry pris-
oner. His eight eyes winked me a mil
liant Good morning." and I forthwith
returned the compliment with the slen-
der shaft Of my hatpin.-New York
Sun. 49,
The Easiest Way. ~
sT want the WaRes OF n man. that'a