Charlevoix county herald., 1915-10-16
RATHER BITES
SNAKE CHARMER
SNOWMAN POISONED DOING THE
"EAsT INDIA" STUNT.

Butte Hospital Physicians Save Mans
Life BY Heroic Work-vIctlm
Expresses Gratitude.
Butte, Mont.-Twenty drops of
snake poison in the tongue of George
Horner, a professional snake charmer.
caused the tongue to protrude from
his mouth and necessitated the Ian
cling Of the tongue In three places.
and as q last resort to save Horner's
life the lancing Of the throat and
tracheotomy operation.
Homer was treated at the Butte
emergency hospital after receiving
| treatments at Pocatello, where he was
performing with a circus when bitten
BY q big rattler. To show his graft
tude, Horner promised to go into the
hills Of Montana and secure rattle
snakes, which he will rob of their
poison sacks and present the venom
| to City Chemist Easton for expert
mental purposes. The recovery Of
Horner, who has been bitten seventy
I'VE times during his twenty years
experience with snakes, is regarded
| as remarkable.
Horner, whose home Is in Pennsyl-
vania, ever since boy had a pccu-
| liar fascination for snakes. His moth
er had trouble keeping him from the
reptiles, and when 10 years old Horn
| with nfrnrvc md kant
close to the snakes. Later he was
| given a job feeding them and fifteen
| years ago became a charmer.
He learned the East India" stunt
OF removing rattlers' fangs with the
| human teeth. Horner would grasp
big rattler with his fingers just back
| OF the head, forcing the snake to open
his mouth two inches and protrude
the fangs to point where Horner
could stick out his teeth and pull out
the fangs. The pressure Of the fingers
kept the poison in the sacks and away
| from the fangs. In this way he re-
moved all sets of twelve fangs.
At Pocatello new snake charmer
was added to the circus and Horner
was asked to demonstrate the East
India" stunt on an Idaho RATHER,
which was seven feet long and IA
years old, with IL rattles. 1t was ma
ting time and the snake had stored
up the poison in one sack, the other
having been removed. Horner grasped
the snakes head too far back and as
i - 10 fN oh
fangs with his teeth the snake struck
and twenty drops of venom went into
Horner's tongue.
When the snake pulled back his
fangs he removed apiece Of Horner's
tongue about as big as the little fin
gernail In two minutes Horner's neck
and face had turned black and he was
choked. The circulation was cut or
in the throat. Horner had presence
OF mind enough to motion his partner
tc. get out a dirty pocket knife, which
Horner cleaned by wiping on his
clothing. An electricians pair Of
tweezers was secured and the tongue
was pulled out and Horner himself
lanced his tongue in three places and
bled it. However, the poison had
gone into his system, and the throat
began to swell SO Horner could not
breathe.
Horner was taken to the rooms Of
DR.. Newton Of Pocatello and prepare
lions made for performing an opera
ton on the throat. Horner wrote:
Doctor, there is only one way to save
my life. Take a chance and cut my
throat and put tube in"
without an anaesthetic Horner had
his throat lanced. The doctor how
ever did not have the proper respir-
ator and for two hours the opening In
Horner's throat was held open with
the operators fingers while search
was made for the instrument. A rub
Der tube was placed In the throat and
Horner was able to breathe.
Then his arm and back was laid
open with incisions and q gallon and
a pint Of blood taken out to rid the
system of the poison. The tongue, in
spite of the cuts. had swollen so that
It protruded out Of the mouth. Horn
er's eyes were swollen and infiamed
with the poison and his body was
black to the waist.
Horner was placed In bed, but after
three days he boarded a train for
Butte. En- route he had three hem
orrhages from the mouth and reached
here in a state of collapse and applied
for treatment at the emergency huspi.
tai, as he was without funds.
II have so much snake poison In my
system that sometimes I wake up at
night and feel Jumps all over my
body, but I was never sick. always
thought I was immune to snake bites
until Big Bess' struck me at Pc "a
tello. was bitten on the end Of the
tongue several years ago, but lanced
It, and the poison was quickly re
moved" said Horner.
Some Of the show hands wanted to
kill the snake, but Horner would not
consent to It. AS soon as he recov
.