RATTLE SNAKES 



3di 



Photograph by J. F. Street. 



AN UNUSUAL POSE 



A splendid specimen caught by the camera in a most unusual and 

 striking pose practically standing upright. 



On May 24th, 1899, a prominent citizen of Phoenix, 

 Mr. M. H. Williams, a lawyer and at the time District 

 Attorney for Maricopa County, Arizona, was at some 

 well known Hot Springs, a short distance from Phoenix. 



The buildings at the Hot Springs were rather primi- 

 tive and the one occupied by Mr. Williams was of adobe 

 with the usual dirt floor of that class of house. Sleeping 

 on a low cot Mr. Williams awoke one morning, threw 

 back the bedding and swung his legs out of the cot and 

 onto an angora goat skin lying on the floor. Coiled up 

 on the rug was a rattler of the "side winder" kind, known 

 to scientists as the "horned rattler" from small horn-like 

 protruberances on each side of its head. 



Mr. Williams' right foot landed squarely on the coiled 

 snake which sank its fangs deep into the instep. Although 

 everything possible was done to save his life Mr. Wil- 

 liams died in great agony within eight hours from the 

 time the snake struck him. 



In addition to these two deaths I have personally 



known half a dozen men and one woman who were bitten 

 but recovered. 



The last was a forest ranger named Blood, in the 

 Sierras of California during the summer of 1919. H* 

 was hunting near the little hamlet of Northfork when a 

 squirrel in a tree caught his eye. Gun in hand he was 

 walking slowly around the tree looking for the little 

 animal above him. He stepped fairly onto a big Dia- 

 mond Back whose frantic rattling caused him to jump to 

 one side. The Ranger was wearing a low shoe and as 

 he raised his foot the snake lunged viciously at him, 

 striking the leg just above the ankle bone, the fangs both 

 penetrating the flesh through the sock and under drawers. 



His wife who was with him quickly made a tourni- 

 quet and placed it above the knee, then helped her hus- 

 band to a camp nearby where with a razor blade the 

 wound, plainly visible, was deeply slashed, causing an 

 excessive flow of blood. 



A phone message to the village brought a syringe and 

 some permanganate solution which was plentifully in- 

 jected into the flesh in the vicinity of the wound, about 

 thirty minutes after the bite was inflicted. 



The leg by this time was frightfully swollen and the 

 man in great pain. 



The tourniquet was loosened about every thirty min- 

 utes and the blood allowed to circulate for a few seconds 

 in order to allow the poison to enter the venous system in 

 small amounts, which was all done in strict accordance 

 with the most modern methods of treating snake bites. 



The nearest doctor was at Fresno, sixty miles away. 

 He could not leave home but after hearing what treat- 











Photograph by J. F. Street. 



THE SIDE WINDER RATTLER 



This rattler is known to scientists as the "horned rattler" from 

 the small horn-like protuberances on each side of its head. Note 

 the frog in the mouth of the snake, being quickly devoured. 



