The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-10-01
RATTLESNAKE BITE
is ALWAYS FATAL
Aged Georgia Physician Tells VI
Number Of Cases That Have
Come Under His Observation

bite of rattlesrake nee 'szaAly
fatal?
The foregoing question was asked
through a chain of newspapers serv-
ed by an Atlanta correspondent
Among the replies which"have been
received is one from DR.. Jefferson
Wilcox of Willacoochie, Ga, ply
sician of 3s years experience. DR..
Wilcox says that the bite of the rat
tier is fatal; not only that, but death
from snakebite is one of the most
horrible known to the profession,
second only to hydrophobia. The
doctor has given cases from his, per
sonal observation and practice to
prove beyond doubt the horrible
deaths resulting from Snakebites.
Following is his statement:
81 was called to see Jacob Vickers
a son of John Vickers, Vho lives
ten miles north of Willacoochie, Ga,
September 8, 1910. He had been bit
ten by a rattlesnake at 8 o'clock IN
the afternoon and died at 3 the
next morning. l had in consultation
with me the late DR.. W. c. Ashley,
of Ocilla, Ga. In my 38 years as a
practicing physician I have seen
many persons die and under. many
circumstances, and from almost
every known. cause, but l have new
er witnessed a death as horrible as
his. He became a human snake.
"Levi Guthrie, a young man
working on the farm of John M.
Lott, on the eastern side of Coffee
county, was bitten September 8,
1886, and died in less. than /4S
hours.
Henry Paulk, prominent far
mer who lived two miles east of
Wil,acoochie, was bitten in May
1875, and deed in Tess than IL
hours.
"My friend, John J. lowers, OF
Bushnell, Coffee county, had a lit
tie girl 10 years old, who in 1918,
while picking blackberries, was bit
ten on the hand and died in convul-
sions in less than two hours"
august 2s, 1888, one Sunday I
was called to the home of a man
named Taylor, who lived in Appling
county, IL miles from my home, to
a child years old, who had been
bitten on the foot. The messenger
came on horseback (there being no
automobiles in those days., and I
returned on horseback with him.
Five or six hours had passed before
I reached the child was too late.
"In the year 1891 Rev. Jason Shi-
rah, of the South Georgia NJ. E.
conference was my minister. His
wife was a Miss Leigh, of Folkston,
Ga. She had brother IL yearSold
who was bitten by a snake. After
her return from her little brothers
bedside, she related the whole TRACE
dy to me. Words cannot describe the
suffering of the boy before his
death.
"Mrs. ]. B. O'Berry of this place,
who has been my friend and neigh
Dor for quarter of a century, had
a sister Miss Gertrude Martin, of
Fort Valley, Ca, on visit to her
sister near Altamaha, Ga. Miss Mar
tin, while picking .blackberries on
May 81, 1886, in company with her
sister and another woman was bit
on the hal.d and died in six hours.
when Miss Martin told her sis
ter, Mrs. O'Berry, that she had been
bitten by a snake, Mrs. O'Berry
seized the hand and wanted to suck
the poison from the wound. Her
sister struggled loose and said: You
must not. You are young yet, and
perhaps you have long life ahead.
You have your husband and chill
dren to live for. have no ties like
that to bind me to life. You could
accomplish nothing, save perhaps
your own undoing, and, besides, I
feel already that Yam doomed"
eff anyone who thinks the bite of