The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, July 24, 1913, Page 4, Image 4
SHIPS EIGHTY TJ
SNAKJ
W. A. ("Snake") King
veloped a Big Indi
Reptiles
Probably the largest "snake farm"
in the world is operated at Brownsville,
Texas, by \\\ A. King?"Snake"
King, as he calls hiniselt. The title
is not inappropriate. He has a partner
in the business in his wye. The
two have handled many thousands of
venemous reptiles.
Just now they are catching a great
many, it being the breeding season.
It is not unusual for a rattler to
bring forth fifty to sixty in one litter.
Not long ago one brought forth 1S3
in one litter. An infant snake is
worth twenty-five cents, and it rapidly
grows in value up to $5 to $10,
depending upon its weight. Snakes
are usually sold by the pound. King
feeds his snakes field mice and rats
brought in by Mexican boys.
King says he has handled more
than 500,000 snakes since he started
in the business, about twenty years
ago. He is now shipping annually
about 20,000 snakes from his farm.
The chaparral wilderness of South
Texas and all of Northern Mexico is
the natural habitat for rattlers and
many other kinds of poisonous reptiles.
Mrs. King Also an Expert.
Mrs. King is an expert snake hunter.
As a girl she learned to handle
them with a minimum of danger.
She found that there was a market
for them, and for several years befn-nn
mflotitKr V i n cr oho madp a hlisi
IV1C CAi-t wiwv*v w- ? ness
of hunting the reptiles in the
brush around Brownsville. She still
delights in snake hunting, and is
usually accompanied by a sister, who
is an assistant at the farm. The
hunting of rattlesnakes gives employment
to more than one thousand Mexicans
in the spring of the year.
Snakes from the King farm are
shipped all. over the world. They
are in demand by museums, side
shows, zoological gardens and for
other exhibition purposes. Many of
these snakes are also used for scientific
purposes?for study and dissecting.
The Kings do quite a business in
selling snake poison. It is used largly
by chemists for experimental purposes
and brings a good price. It is
said to be valuable for medical purposts
also. There is also much demand
for rattlesnake oil, many believing
that it is good for rheumatism
and some other ills.
>? King and his wife have been bitten
many times by rattlesnakes.
"The first time I was bitten by a
rattlesnake was in 1897," he says:
"I was sick at the stomach for some
time, but 1 cut tlie wound and let
the blood flow, using permanganate
of potash, with a hypodermic injec
tion of ammonia. Sometimes it is
necessary to apply a tourniquet. As
soon as the poison hits the flesh it
seeps off, so the safest way is to cut
a little cross?about half an inch?
at the place bitten. Let the blood
flow freely. If the solution is mixed
properly and administered properly
it is a sure cure, in my opinion.
"Yes, I have heard of eating snake
meat; old settlers have told me they
have had to eat it. The meat is
white and fine, tasting like veal.
"If a snake is hit by a stick and
wounded it will try to poison itself.
Rattlesnakes coil in a flash, but they
do not have to be coiled in order to
bite. They have to coil in order to
jump and they are very lively when
they do move. If a rattler is moving
it can swing around like a flash and
strike, but if it has a chance to get
away it will not trouble you. From a
- ? " ^ ^ i U Arvir< AI i? Ar> + ti* A
CUII C'CtU tlliuw LUCiHOCl * CO t \jthirds
the length of their body, but
by repeated jumps they can tire
themselves out.
Small Snakes Deadliest.
"The young snakes have poison
fangs almost as soon as they are born,
ready to do the work. The smaller
the rattlesnake the deadlier it is.
The reason the copperhead is so
poisonous is because it is so small.
The poison remains in a small wound,
which quickly heals over as there is
no blood flowing. With a large snake
the fangs are so big and the snake so
heavy that if it strikes you it tears
the lower jaw hooking up and its
weight causing it to drop; such a
wound bleeds. A little snake locks
its jaws and hangs on."
King lias several dogs trained for
snake-hunting. They are of the
Mexican hairless variety. Thcv
quickly catch the scent of a snake
and follow its trail until they reach
its den or come upon it in the brush.
The usual method of capturing a
snake is to throw a lasso of a small,
stout twine over its head, choking
it, and then dropping it into a gunnysack.
Often a hunter will bring in a
dozen or more snakes in one sack.
10USAND
SS EVERY YEAR. 4
and His Wife Have De- v
ustry in Poisonous
in Texas. J
t
t
When the dogs trail a snake to a
den it is necessary to dig the rep- j
tile out, and not infrquently several j
. other snakes are found in the same j
hole. t
"Last April," King said. "I had t1
! dug out a snake when I discovered g
another right behind me. a male. v
The female \Vas in the den. Mr. Snake r
reared up and I jumped into a prick- c
ly pear patch?and none too quick. ^
In the end I got both snakes. Some- *
times you find seventy-five or a hun- r
dred in one little patch. 1
King of the Rattlers. r
WMrs. King and her sister, when c
they caught the biggest rattlesnake *
' I ever saw had small boxes. The r
two went out by themselves and were *
carrying a gunny-sack with one or c
two snakes they had caught i
earlier in the day. Mrs. King lasso- 1
j ed the big snake and tethered him to c
j a tree and then set the box over him. 1
! This snake was 9 feet 6 1-2 inches I
T
j long and had nineteen rattles. He 1
was captured on the other side of
the river below Matamoras. ?
"It is all nonsense to say snakes c
I hypnotize people. I never heard of a
1 an authentic case. c
"\vnen a snaKe is locaiea uie iiexi !
process is to pick it up. But you
I must not make a false move; it would
be fatal. Circle it quietly. Here is
where what they call snake charmj
ing comes in. I don't believe there
i is such a thing, although they say
that certain men can move and make
a snake follow them. Of course,
j when a man moves around the snake
it's head does follow. When you
have the snake quiet, reach under the
j body and pick it up. It remains in
j its coil. You must know the exact
portion of the body in order to lift it
j up; otherwise there is danger. I put
my left hand down, causing him to
raise his head. The body then is in
: the correct position for handling,
i If . it is a 'mean' snake you
should work long enough to get
the strike out of it by tiring it. If
you come on it suddenly it might go
to rattling, ^ but the popular belief
that before a snake bites it rattles is
a mistake. I have approached hundreds
and hundreds of snakes that
did not rattle. The big fellows haul
' off and bite and rattle afterwards.'
Also there is no foundation to the
story that the rattlesnake gets a new
rattle every year. When it sheds its
: skin a new rattle comes. But I have
l-nntt-n cnntos tn chpd thrpp and four
times a year in damp years."
F. B. Armstrong was the pioneer ?
snake farmer in the Brownsville ~
i section. He made a business of ex- J
tracting poison from rattlesnakes J
and making them harmless by cut- ^
j ting out their fangs and poison sack.
Extracting the Venom. (
Specially constructed box is used
! to hold the snake while the work of
relieving it of its liquid poison and
making it harmless is performed. On t
top of the box is a sliding lid, and in 2
one end of the lid is a small aperture, s
just large enough to fit over the neck ?
of the snake. The head is drawn I
out through the hole by means of a r
' lasso and the lid tightened against 2
the neck, rendering the snake power- I
less from harm. A glass is placed in
the open mounth of the reptile and it *
instantly brings down its jaws, throwing
out in its anger all the poison
' - - - . ... * s
that the sack contains?usuany irum ^
one to two tablespoonfuls. The poison
having been ejected, the operator
i cuts out the fangs, which lie down ^
close to the jaws in the back part of
the mouth resembling hypodermic
needles. Having removed the fangs, *
?
a slit is made in the poison sack, and
i thereafter the snake can do no harm,
j The poison is of a greenish yellow *
| tinge. While the process is going
; on the snake rattles continuously.
The business of capturing and mar|
keting snakes is carried on exten- .
j sively in some parts of Mexico also.
j * s
Returns Conscience Money. ^
Y
Philadelphia, Pa., July 20.?De- e
daring that his conscience would not ^
permit him to eat or sleep, Alexander v
S. Woods, of East St. Louis, surrend- t
erea to tne ponce nere iu-uay aua | g
; turned over ?4,000 which he said he s
had stolen from the American Ex- r
press Company in that city last Tues- ?
day. x
A police patrol was about to take c
a prisoner to the station when Woods t
requested the sergeant to take him \
i
too. . c
He said a man whose note he had \
endorsed failed to make good and i
this had worried him so much that t
he left East St. Louis with his pock- \
ets filled with the Express Company's t
i monev. r
i 1
THE VANISHING GIRL. Bl
for ]
l Plea to the Father for the Return |ars'
of Miss Innocence. 1
__ GROV
This is a stralght-from the shoul- derfui
er talk to the fathers of young girls, the d?
\*e hope mothers will read it also.
>ut we want them to pass it on to |b
heir husbands without fail. The
American father needs a jolt. And ji
his is a jolt handed from one father
r> nrifitlipr.
We are not given to deploring the
assing of "the good old days." We
I
:elieve that many decayed and useess
customs have been cast aside, and
hat to-day carries much to admire
ind rejoice over. But we have made
i mistake in letting our girls grow
;p too fast. There is neither meekless
nor shadow in the eyes of Miss
Sixteen today. Neither is she exactly
vhat you would call "sweet." she is
'smart" and amusing, but she does
lot bring a tremulous smile to the |?
ips of old age nor fill the hearts of If
y.-js,
nen, young and old, with the fine p
>ld desire to protect and screen her
rom all that might hurt or contamilate.
Her eyes invite and challenge,
der bearing announces an indepenlence
that is too assertive. There l
s nothing reluctant about her feet. g|
father they press eagerly toward the
Iress, manners, customs and pleas- __
ires designed for those who have
ducked ripe fruit from the Tree of ||5
knowledge. 3*
We men are proud of this new girl's fl!
;pirit, of her achievements in the
lass-room, of her resourcefulness ?j?
:nd adaptability when economic con- ?|
litions force her into our factories,
tores and offices. We smile at her
:ood-humoredly and say, "Go to it, ??
;irlie," when she elbows her way into 1|
he crowded lunch-room or trolley.
iut we miss the shadow in her eyes,
he lily in her hand, and we do not
ike to think of her as a wife for ||
>ur son. If we stop to analyze her ||
>osition in the general scheme of fgl
ife, we think vaguely that she be- ig
ongs in a class of her own; the class ge
hat must hold its own in the stern gag
vorkaday world. Perhaps in pre- g|
taring their daughters for the grindng,
pitilesss contact with those who gg
oil, parents have taught girls at once i g
oo much and too little?too much of 9 |
iow to protect themselves from the ga
tvil of others, too little of how to gj g
lee the evil in itself. And so, flaunt- a |
ng her preparedness, this type
;hrows off the mysterious veil of fig
naidenhood, melting into woman- ?1
We are sorry for this girl, sorry km
or her parents, and we say smugly g&|
o ourselves that we are glad our
laughters are not as this poor, world- m
rorn little creature, mat is uei-ause
ve really do not know our own |||
laughters. We have not time tc |s|
ollow our girls into what we fond- gig
v believe to be a sheltered, refined ^
ife. Suppose some of your fathers
)ut market prices into the back;round
and for a few hours walk the i
iheltered path w^ich you imagine
our hard earned dollars provide for j
our daughter.?Pictorial Review.
TO BUILD PELLAGRA HOSPITAL.
.^ongressnnan Johnson Introduces
Measure for Spartanburg.
Washington, July IS.?Representaive
Jos T. Johnson intruduced to-day
i bill authorizing the public health
eiwice to acquire a site at or near
Ipartanburg and build thereon a hos)ital
for the investigation and treatnent
of diseases, especially pellagra,
md appropriating $300,000 for the
>urpose.
"ailing Tree Kills Family's Support..
Springfield. July 19.?Bassie Mixon,
of this place, came to hs death ?
ast night from a wound received a |
ew hours earlier from a falling limb
rom a tree he was assisting in cuting
in the Edisto swamps.
Yo ng Mr. Mixson had been emiloyed
by a firm of lumber and logging
people, and while engaged in
elling a large hardwood tree, it ap)ears
that the tree lodged against
;ome other tree, thereby dislodging
>r breaking off a large limb, which
rom the impact was caused to refund.
The swamp being so dense,
t was impossible for Mr. Mixson to
ee the limb that caused his death. |
mmediately after the accident Mr. R
dixson was removed to the home of H
lis aged mother where he received R
svery possible attention until his 1
leath early in the night. His em- 9
iloyers had made every arrangement I
o remove him to one of the hospitals B
it Columbia, out uie aueuumg pnj- ^
icians would not consent to a remov- .
il as they realized his certain and ||||
speedy death. The death of this g-g
'oung man, who wr.3 about 25 years
>ld. is peculiarly sad from the fact ^
hat his father died while he was
ery young, and left a large family |||
>f small children and an invalid ^
vife. At the age of 10 or 12 years |1|
3assie Mixson became the head of gag
he family, and by hard honest work
ind succeeded in raising the family |||
o man and womanhood, and also sup- g?
>ort his aged and afflicted mother. J
mosquito | Malaria or Chills & Fever I
at Hunter s Hardware Store.
Prescription No. 666 is prepared especially
fhe Best Hot Weather Tonic for MALARIA or CHILLS &. FEVER.
'E'S TASTELESS chill TONIC enriches the or s[x doses will break any case, and
builds up the whole system and will won- " taken then as a tonic the rever will not
ly strengthen and fortify you to withstand return. It acts on the iiver better than
:pressing effect of the hot summer. 50c. ! Calomel and does not gripe or sicken. 25c
ailey Military Institute
Formerly the S. G. G. I. of Edgefield, S. G.
A Christian military institution offering instruc|i
I ti?n in classical, scientific and commercial courses.
h * Iniofl now* lii'irt hnildiiio's. Modomlv onninned.
? I | Steam heat. Electric lights. Hot and cold water in
\ | If you want to place your son in a school where
:B8p:i|\ |} his health will be carefully looked after, his mind
W* \ m thoroughly trained, and where he will be taught
habits of obedience, punctuality and industry, send
jjfPlpfc 1# him to our institution.
Here each cadet is under the close personal contro"
an(* watchful care of the teachers from the time
'mm he readies the school until he leaves for his home.
jflBMi For Catalog and other information, address:
if if Bailey Military Institute
Greenwood, S. G.
MYAiliE!]
lately We have some as m
ggS9HK|feS nice Horses and M
Mules in our stables
we&mi&mm as have been shown 11
^IBBiinBambergin some II
time, and the prices and terms ||
will please you as well as the m
stock. We also have some ex- M
tra nice Buggies, Harness, Whips ||
and everything in this line. Come ||
and see what we really have. ^
Ijones brosJI
BAMBERG, S. C. ?
?M3?
J>ear 'To have a |
hiis/ftess otyour own some- I
- /crv ha/iA your/noney now. |
||
Have a business of your own some day, so
that you may enjoy a comfortable old age; there
is one way to do it: . Bank your money now. Let
your account grow; then some day, you will be
prepared to take a GOOD BUSINESS CJ/AJVCJS
or to invest your money in a paying business.
The man who has a business of his own first
banked his money and then helped to make his
bank account GROW.
Do YOUR banking with US. 1
We pay 4 per cent, interest compound- |
ed quarterly on savings deposits
** m m 1 - *** 1 S
rarmers & Merchants Bank I
EHRHARDT, S. C. ?
A Safe Combination |
In the Banking business is gmple capital, careful meth- 111
ods, shrewd judgment and unfailing courtesy. Thus |j||
the fact that our deposits are increasing rapidly is suf- v :
ficient proof that our customers realize and appreciate >
that this combination is our method of doing business.
We shall be pleased to number you among our new ggs
customers. We pay 4 per cent, on Savings Deposits. gg
PEOPLES BANK Bamberg, S. C. 1
More Time WSjB
At Home Ji
TY) and from work?four trips a
day?a wheel will save ten
minutes each trip or nearly an hour
extra?three hundred hours a year
more at home. You'll feel better
and act better. Gets the cobwebs a
out of your brain and honest hunger M
into your stomach. The ^
fIVER JOHNSON
has more strong features,
is better built and finished
and runs smoother than
any wheel you ever
mounted. You needn't
buy till you try. Trust
the Truss.
Bicycles, Guns, and Automobile Supplies,
Key Fittings, and General
Repair Shop. First-Class
Workmen.
J. BOIST BRICKLE
Bamberg, S. C.
| 1 ordinary
SpiJa
TvSrsets . '
(NOT 80LO IN 8T0RE8)
I will call at your home by
appointment, and- give you
any information on our corsets
with no obligation on
your part. Telephone or
send postcard to
MRS. A. A. ZEIGLER,
Bamberg, S. C.
; i
I Nervous? |
Mrs. Walter Vincent,
^ni of Pleasant Hill. N. C., |jg)
jty writes: "For three sum9'
mers, I suffered from FS
(8)1 nervousness, d r e a d f u 1
pains in my back and
(S\| sides, and weak sinking |@
j* J spells. Three bottles of
Vr. Cardui, the woman's f5i
tonic, relieved me entirely.
I feel like another
(g)| person, now." |@
TAKE 4^ $
| Cardui1.
The Woman's Tonic ^ ,
_?l For over 50 years, '^r.
S>* Cardui has been helping
(g)| to relieve women's un- |@
Kjf necessary pains and
^Igvi building weak women up (2F
to health and strength.
9* It will do the same for
(?)J you, if given a fair trial. 1^
j So, don't wait, but begin
taking Cardui today, for [@ "
jk J its use cannot harm you,
9^. and should surely do you R5
? good. E-72 I?,
E. H. HENDERSON
*
4
Attorney-at-Law.
BAMBERG, S. C.
General Practice. Loans Negotiated.
Tn Dr oironf Rliw) DnScnnSflflr
t 1WTW*S%, VIW?| I VIOVIllU^
apply at once the wonderful old reliable DR.
PORTER'S ANTISEPTIC HEALING OIL, a surgical
dressing that relieves pain and heals at 1
the same time. Not a liniment. 25c. 50c. $1.00.