apply salt, gunpowder, and the yellow of an egg': the treatment of

Apply Salt, Gunpowder,and the Yellow of an Egg

18 KANSAS HISTORY

Western rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis

APPLY SALT, GUNPOWDER, AND THE YELLOW OF AN EGG 19

ioneers met and overcame a variety of environmental obstacles while settling Kansas.Blizzards and extreme cold were common during winter; prairie fires, locust plagues,droughts, violent thunderstorms, and tornadoes were adversities that occurred peri-odically during the remainder of the year. However, one possible danger was presentdaily from late March through October or early November—the dreaded rattlesnake.

Focusing on one decade, the 1870s, from the settlement period, this study examines the habits ofrattlesnakes that brought them into contact with settlers, the attitude of settlers toward those rep-tiles, the number of bites that occurred during that decade, the number of people who died as a re-sult of those bites, and particularly the efficacy of the different kinds of treatments provided to thevictims.

Only two species of poisonous snakes are found in western Kansas. Both are rattlesnakes. Themassasauga, Sistrurus catenatus, occurs in the eastern two-thirds of the state. It occupies a “widerange of habitats ranging from semi-arid sagebrush prairie and rocky, prairie hillsides to open wet-lands.” The western rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis, occurs in rocky canyons and open prairies, princi-pally in the western half of Kansas.1 The western rattlesnake, rather than the massasauga, proba-bly caused most of the snake-related difficulties for settlers.

Snakes are “cold-blooded” or ectothermic. Therefore, before the subfreezing temperatures ofwinter, snakes must seek refugia from the cold. In autumn, as temperatures decline rattlesnakes

The Treatment of Rattlesnake Bitesby the Western Kansas Settler

by Eugene D. Fleharty

Eugene D. Fleharty earned a bachelor’s degree from Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska, and master’s and doctorate degrees from the Uni-versity of New Mexico. Currently he is a professor of biology at Fort Hays State University. He also is the author of Wild Animals and Settlers onthe Great Plains (1995).

For their helpful suggestions with an earlier draft of this manuscript, the author thanks Jerry R. Choate, professor of biological sci-ences and director and curator of mammals, Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, Hays; and Joseph T.Collins, herpetologist emeritus, Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

1. Joseph T. Collins, Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, Natural History Series No. 13, 1993),278, 275.

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20 KANSAS HISTORY

make their way to “dens” or hibernacula where theyspend the winter sheltered in a semitorpid state. Thetemperatures within the den are low but not freezing.Hibernacula can be almost anywhere snakes canmove below the frost line. In areas with large rocks,hibernacula frequently are in crevices that lead deepbelow the frost line. Duringsettlement of western Kansas,when prairie dogs townswere common, snakes fre-quently utilized the deep bur-rows of prairie dogs.2

Occasionally these hiber-nacula would contain largenumbers of snakes, both poi-sonous and nonpoisonous. Ina hybernaculum near Concor-dia three thousand snakeswere reported to have beenkilled in October 1876. Fifteenhundred other snakes al-legedly were killed at thesame den in May 1878. NearCawker City in September1877 a farmer unearthed 330 snakes while plowing,and in the vicinity of Hays 168 rattlers and 300 othersnakes were killed in a prairie dog town in Novem-ber 1878. Admittedly these numbers probably suf-fered from some exaggeration, but it is well docu-mented by herpetologists that dens can harbor largenumbers of snakes.3

ansas settlers had, like most people, “an in-nate fear of snakes or, more precisely, . . . aninnate propensity to learn such fear quickly

and easily past the age of five.”4 Therefore, to manysettlers, the only good snake was a dead snake. In the

autumn when snakes gathered at dens, or in earlyspring prior to dispersal, large numbers of snakeswould “lay-out” or bask on warm days near the den-site. It was at these times, when numerous snakeswere found in a relatively small area and thereforeparticularly vulnerable, that planned snake hunts

were undertaken in an at-tempt to eradicate the “evil”serpents. Hunters near Hutch-inson in 1872 killed fifty-fiverattlesnakes in prairie dogtowns in October and Novem-ber. In the same vicinity, inNovember 1873, more than200 snakes were killed ofwhich 175 were rattlesnakes.The success of these hunts inReno County led the editor ofthe Hutchinson News to predictthat “after next spring a snakewill be a curiosity in the set-tled portions of Reno Coun-ty.” A hunt in Barton Countyresulted in fifty-six rattle-

snakes killed at a prairie dog town in November1876.5

When warm spring days arrive, rattlesnakes leavethe denning areas and move to summer ranges atvarying distances from the den. During the warmerperiods of the year, after these spring dispersals, rat-tlesnakes seemed to early settlers to be everywhere.They were found in the open prairie, in croplands,gardens, and near outbuildings. They also entereddugouts and sod houses. Because rattlesnakes prefertemperatures between eighty and ninety degrees, set-tlers had to be particularly vigilant in the early morn-ing and evening hours during spring and autumnand at night during the heat of the summer.6 With onestrike, these snakes could inject enough poison to kill

2. Laurence M. Klauber, Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories, andInfluences on Mankind, 2 vols. (Berkeley: University of California Press,1956), 541–49.

3. Ellis County Star (Hays), October 26, 1876; Pawnee County Herald(Larned), May 14, 1878; Hays City Sentinel, September 21, 1877, Novem-ber 16, 1878; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 549–52.

4. Edward O. Wilson, Biophilia (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer-sity Press, 1984), 84; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 953–55.

5. Hutchinson News, October 17, 1872; Ellsworth Reporter, November7, 1872; Hutchinson News, November 6, 1873; Inland Tribune (Great Bend),November 4, 1876.

6. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 571–75; Collins, Amphibians and Reptiles, 275.

Kansas settlershad, like most

people, “an innatefear of snakes.” Tomany settlers, theonly good snakewas a dead snake.

K


a child in a matter of hours. Nor were adults immunefrom the poison: according to newspaper reports, theloss of a loved one among Kansas settlers was not un-usual, and many grief stricken families were foundon the prairies in the 1870s.

During this decade eighty-two separate incidentsof rattlesnake bites were reported. All incidents oc-curred from March through October. This was notunexpected as ectotherms are not active during lowtemperatures. The majority of the bites (75.6 percent)occurred during June, July, August, and September(Table 1).

ost frequently bites occurred as settlersand their families conducted the daily ac-tivities required to maintain a homestead

or small farm. One factor that influenced the numberof bites was the penchant for farmers and their fami-lies to go barefoot. Activities during times when biteswere received included walking or working in thegarden (picking peas, pulling weeds), working theland (plowing, raking hay, picking up fodder, har-vesting, binding wheat, picking wild fruit, pulling apicket pin), and recreation (fishing, retrieving a mar-ble from beneath a bed, playing with the snake, chas-ing a ground squirrel, playing in a cropfield, at-

tempting to remove the rattles and skins from “dead”snakes).

Treatments were provided to all who were bitten.However, for a variety of reasons many of those bit-ten probably were in no danger of dying. Most kindsof larger snakes, poisonous or otherwise, will strikein their own defense when threatened. In some of thereported snakebite cases the individual bitten maynot have seen the snake, or if he observed it may havemisidentified it. In addition, even if the snake werepoisonous, the bite might have been “dry,” with ei-ther no or insufficient venom injected to cause death.Lack of envenomation can be caused by the snake in-jecting too little venom; rattlesnakes do not alwaysinject the total amount of venom they have available.Additionally, the venom gland-fang mechanism ofthe snake might malfunction, and in some instancesthe fangs do not hit the victim directly resulting in lit-tle injection of venom. It recently was estimated thatabout 25 percent of all poisonous snakebites in theUnited States do not inject enough poison to producesymptoms of venom poisoning. Probably the figure ismuch higher because outpatients were not includedin the study. A recent study placed the percentage ofinsufficient venom injection at about “40 to 50 per-cent of all poisonous snakebites.”7

Rattlesnake venom is neutral or slightly acidic,containing a “mixture of proteolytic enzymes, neuro-toxin, bacteria, cell detritus, various proteins, andelectrolytes.” The neurotoxins kill the prey, and theproteolytic enzymes begin digestion proprietary toingestion. The neurotoxin of Kansas snakes is ofminor importance except in cases of massive poison-ing. The protelytic enzymes digest the tissue locallyaround the bite, destroy linings of the blood vessels,and inhibiting blood clotting through interactionswith blood proteins. Additionally, the enzyme lecithi-nase causes destruction of red blood cells.8

7. Henry M. Parrish, Poisonous Snakebites in the United States (NewYork: Vantage Press, 1980), 328, 330; Henry M. Parrish, J.C.Goldner, andS.L.Silberg, “Poisonous Snakebite Causing No Venenation,” PostgraduateMedicine 39 (March 1966), 267.

8. John W. Schmaus, “Envenomation in Kansas,” Journal of the KansasMedical Society 60 (June 1959): 238.

TABLE 1Number and percentage of bites recorded in eachof the warm-weather months, 1870s

March 2 2.4April 3 3.7May 9 11.0June 18 22.0July 16 19.5August 11 13.4September 17 20.7October 6 7.3

Month Number of bites Percentage

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22 KANSAS HISTORY

In an attempt to counteract the effects of rat-tlesnake venom, a variety of “remedies” was used onthose unfortunate individuals who were bitten on theplains of western Kansas. These remedies fell intofour categories: whiskey, either alone or with one ofthe following; incisions or excisions, usually in com-bination with sucking the poison from the wound oramputations; some kind of cauterization; and a poul-tice of some sort, either to neutralize the poison or todraw it out.

ver the centuries many “folk” remedies forpoisonous snakebites have been used. Be-cause of the limited knowledge of snake-

bite, venom, and the circulation of those poisonswithin the body, most folk treatments were ineffectu-al. In some instances, the “remedy” may have causedthe death of the victim. These remedies, passed fromgeneration to generation, were not based on scientif-ic studies. Rather, they were founded on past experi-ence—trial and error. During the treatment of a bite,a therapy was used and, if the patient survived, theremedy was deemed effective, notwithstanding thefact that the person probably would have survivedregardless of the treatment.

Early newspaper accounts frequently reportedthe names of individuals bitten and whether theylived or died. Occasionally newspapers gave a graph-ic description of the circumstances surrounding thebite and sometimes included the therapy used.Newspapers also devoted brief articles to the variousmethods used to treat snakebite victims, therebyhelping disseminate the folk remedies.

Although many folk remedies were practiced byKansas settlers, the use of alcohol was the only reme-dy sanctioned by the medical profession. Whiskeywas the alcohol of choice. Of the forty-seven newspa-per accounts that reported treatments for rattlesnakebites, twelve involved whiskey. It was believed thatany amount of whiskey could be given to a personwho was bitten by a venomous snake without caus-ing injury. Indeed whiskey was thought to be an an-tidote for snakebite, actively seeking out the poisonwithin the victim’s body and destroying it. It fre-

quently was administered in prodigious amounts.9

We now know that alcohol depresses the central ner-vous system. Among other things, this results in sup-pression of the respiratory system and can be fatal.There is little doubt that alcohol poisoning, ratherthan venom, was the cause of death in manysnakebite victims on the Kansas frontier. In fournewspaper accounts, whiskey was the only remedyused. In eight other instances, it was used in combi-nation with other procedures.

Mr. George Risley was bitten by a rattlesnake,yesterday morning, on the farm of Mr. Forest Sav-age. Up to four o’clock yesterday afternoon he haddrank two quarts of whiskey without any particu-larly visible results of the usual nature. He willdoubtless recover from the effects of both the biteand the whiskey.10

Large amounts of whiskey, especially when ad-ministered to a child, whose smaller body could notwithstand the effects of alcohol as readily as an adult’s,could easily have resulted in death. Although whiskeywas given to the child described in the following pas-sage, the amount is not mentioned; presumably it wasnot enough to cause additional problems.

A little three year old girl of Mr. Wentzler, re-siding about six miles northeast of this place, wasbitten by a rattlesnake last Friday. She was in thegarden picking peas, when the reptile struck her inthe calf of the right leg. Dr. Gibboney was imme-diately summoned, who found the limb consider-ably swollen, but by the administration of whiskeyand other remedies the working of the poison wasarrested, and at last accounts the child was in a fairway to recover.11

Probably the most natural reflex when bitten by apoisonous reptile is to place one’s mouth over thefang marks and suck on the wound to remove the

9. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 886–88.10. Ford County Globe (Dodge City), June 18, 1878.11. Osborne County Farmer (Osborne), July 5, 1878.

O


poison. This was recorded in seven of the newspaperaccounts. This method perhaps had some value if thebite was superficial and the remedy applied immedi-ately after the bite. However, if the bite penetratedmore deeply into the muscle this method was of littlebenefit.12

A young son of Mr.Charles Caldwell, who liveseast of town, was bitten bya rattlesnake one day lastweek. The child’s mothersucked the poison out ofthe wound; and he is nowout of danger.13

The use of a tourniquetor some method to constrictthe area between the biteand the body, often in com-bination with incision andsucking, was a very com-mon method used to treatsnakebite. It only has beenwithin approximately thepast twenty years that thismethod has fallen into disfavor unless the victim isfar removed from a treatment center. If the constric-ture is too tight to allow blood circulation, gangrenecan occur and death result. If a ligature is used itshould only be tight enough to restrict lymph flowand not blood flow, thereby minimizing the danger ofgangrene.14

The finger was immediately tied, and remediesapplied as soon as possible. Under a liberal use ofwhiskey, etc., Mr. [Ira] Johnson has recovered suffi-ciently to be able to be up and around again.15

Incisions frequently were made prior to sucking toincrease the amount of poison that could be removed.Venom in the body spreads rapidly and if incisionswere to be of benefit they needed to be done immedi-ately after the bite. Incisions had little or no value inthe cases of deep bites and are not advocated today.16

In many cases incisions mayhave permitted secondary in-fections to occurs, thus com-pounding the problems.

A Mr. Pierce was bittenby a rattlesnake in the har-vest field near Solomon lastweek, and had presence ofmind enough to make sever-al gashes with his pen knifeinto the wound, and then ex-tract the poisonous fluidwith his mouth. He is allright says the Gazette, whichrecords the above.17

Perhaps a logical extensionof the cut and suck methodwas to excise the flesh imme-

diately surrounding the bite. This method had littlebenefit unless applied quickly to a superficial bite. Ifthe bite were deep this remedy was useless. In anycase this method undoubtedly increased patient trau-ma and the chance of secondary infection.

Mrs. Bouchard was bitten in the hand by a rat-tle snake last Wednesday, which came very nearproving fatal. As soon as she could get in thehouse, she took a razor and cut out the part bitten,but it seems not deep enough to take out the poi-son. It swelled very rapidly, and she suffered ex-cruciating agony until the arrival of Dr. Weaver,from Marquette. Then he alleviated her sufferings

12. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 863.13. Hays City Sentinel, August 22, 1879.14. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 871; Jonathan A. Campbell and William W.

Lamar, The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Uni-versity Press, 1989), 7.

15. Inland Tribune, August 19, 1876.16. Campbell and Lamar, The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America, 7.17. Ellsworth Reporter, July 15, 1875.

Most folk reme-dies for poiso-

nous snakebiteswere ineffectual. Insome instances, the“remedy” may havecaused the death ofthe victim.

24 KANSAS HISTORY

18. Saline County Journal (Salina), October 9, 1879.19. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 868–70.20. Hays City Sentinel, May 18, 1877.21. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 869.22. Hutchinson News, June 29, 1876.

23. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 868, 878; Kirwin Chief, September 6, 1876.24. Ellsworth Reporter, June 29, 1876.

to a great extent, but still she suffered terribly, andis not nearly over it yet, but is out of danger.18

requently the wound was cauterized eitherby using hot metal or a caustic chemical withthe hope that the cauterization would de-

stroy the poison before it hadtime to take effect. This treat-ment had little or no benefitbecause the poison is rapidlyabsorbed by the tissues anddoes not remain in a local-ized area around the bite.19

One of the grangers inthe sparsely settled districtknown as the Upper Solo-mon, was bitten by a rat-tlesnake, last Friday. Uponreceiving the wound, thesufferer cut a huge chunk offlesh from around the partthe venomous fangs hadpenetrated, and cauterizedthe quivering flesh with aheated iron. Our informant,Mr. Hoyt, says that at the last accounts the manwas getting along finely.20

Gunpowder was also used for cauterization.21 Inthe following reports it was mixed with egg and saltbefore being applied as a poultice.

Mrs. A. S. Dimook, of Valley, was bitten slight-ly, on the foot last Friday, by a young rattlesnake.A rubber shoe which she was wearing at the time,protected her so that the bite was not serious. Anapplication of soda, followed by a salve composedof equal parts of egg, salt and gunpowder, wasmade and the wound only swelled slightly.22

Even amputation of the extremity bitten was ad-vocated. This was an ancient remedy, logical but dras-tic. Although for this study no examples were foundof its use during the time period in question, onenewspaper suggested the poisoned limb be cut offabove the bite and “boil the stump in fresh milk.”

Milk, an ancient remedy forsnake bite, was used either in-ternally or externally.23 In oneinteresting account milk wasinfused directly into the bite.

The Wichita Eagle says: Alittle girl, living near Eureka,while playing in a harvestfield, was bitten on the ankleby a prairie rattlesnake. Ayoung Swede who was work-ing in the field at the time,got some milk from a cowstanding near by, and insert-ed a small straw in each ofthe holes made by the fangsof the snake, and pouredsome milk into the strawswhich counteracted the poi-

son, and within an hour the child was playingaround as usual.24

A large number of plants and plant derivatives weretaken internally or included in externally appliedpoultices to treat snakebite. One of these was cornsnake root.

Dr. J. H. Oyster in Kansas Farmer.Use rattlesnake’s master—cynyium aqua-

ticum—sometimes called corn snake-root. . . . Theroot is the part used, either green or dried, but thegreen is best. Take about the same quantity as youwould of any other herb and steep in sweet milk;drink as much as the stomach will bear, and apply

Alarge numberof plants and

plant derivativeswere taken inter-nally or includedin externallyapplied poulticesto treat snakebite.

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some to the bitten part. It may be used severaltimes during the day. It is my opinion that itwould prove an antidote to mad dog bite. Itshould be used internally, and poultice made andapplied to the bitten part. This should be done assoon as bitten.25

nother remedy was prepared from plants ofthe genus Indigofera. Sometimes indigo wasmixed with other ingredients such as salt,

iodine, alcohol, and sorrel and used as a poultice. Inother cases, the indigo was used directly.

Pulverized indigo is said to be a sure cure forsnake bites. Mr. W. A. Singer, who resides in Sum-ner county, near Clearwater, has tried it upon sev-eral occasions with the best results. . . . The indigowas sprinkled over the wound rapidly, absorbingthe virus. This is a simple remedy, always on handin every household, and as the occasion for a rem-edy may arise at any time, it may be well to re-member this.26

The use of tobacco as a poultice or as an ingredi-ent in a poultice dates to 1615. Sometimes tobaccojuice was taken internally. If the patient did not get illit was believed that the tobacco was effective. Morefrequently, however, tobacco was used as a poultice,either alone or with other ingredients. One newspa-per recommended a poultice of tobacco together withcamphor, a derivative of the camphor tree.27

Onions also were used as a cure. They were uti-lized in medieval times and in this country as early as1753 in Louisiana.

Take onions (if green, tops and all) mash them fine,spread on a cloth large enough to cover all the

swollen part, sprinkle on some salt, and apply im-mediately. Change the poultice every fifteen min-utes, for the first hour or two. If badly swollen,scarify slightly with a sharp knife.28

In addition to using milk, other poultices utilizedanimals, derivatives made from animals, and animalbyproducts. In some cases the animal derivative wascombined with plant ingredients. Hog lard was a rec-ommended treatment for snakebite as early as 1752.The fat from swine was considered to be superior be-cause hogs were thought to be immune to snakebite,the theory being that “a rattlesnake’s fangs cannotreach a hog without applying the remedy (the fat) atthe same time.”

Ed Kearney was bitten by a rattlesnake lastTuesday while binding wheat. He used tobaccoand whiskey first, then tried indigo and lard, thelatter application seemingly doing the most good.He is able to be about again.29

Hartshorn was sometimes used as a remedy. Itwas made from the antler of a buck deer and was anearly source of ammonia. The following remedy com-bined a tourniquet, cut and suck, hartshorn, andsweet oil. Olive or sweet oil was a remedy that datedto at least 1200 A.D. in Europe.

Snake bites, etc.—Apply immediately stronghartshorn and take it internally; also give sweet oiland stimulants freely; apply a ligature right abovethe part bitten, and then apply a cupping glass.30

Olive oil was tested by various scientists duringthe eighteenth century and deemed useless. Howev-er, it continued to be used well into the 1800s. In thefollowing case the treatment was supplemented bythe individual’s faith in the Almighty.25. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 879–85; Ronald M. McGregor et al., Flora of

the Great Plains (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1986), 593. Cornsnake root is also known as button snakeroot, Eryngium yuccifolium. FordCounty Globe, July 16, 1878.

26. T.M. Barkley, A Manual of the Flowering Plants of Kansas (Manhat-tan: Kansas State University Endowment Association, 1968), 202. Theonly species of indigo in Kansas is Indigofera miniata. Klauber, Rattlesnakes,884; Hays City Sentinel, June 20, 1879.

27. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 884; Kinsley Graphic, August 16, 1879.

28. Wichita City Eagle, June 3, 1875; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 883–84.29. Osborne County Farmer, July 10, 1879; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 889.30. Hutchinson News, March 20, 1879; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 889.

A

26 KANSAS HISTORY

monia, soda, or both. Although found to be ineffec-tive by 1787 it was continued to be used for sometime. Because venom is slightly acidic and ammoniaand soda are alkaline, it was thought that they wouldneutralize the effects of the poison.

Little Katie, a ten-year-old daughter of Mr. Chris.Mullen, who lives two miles up the railroad was bit-ten twice by a rattlesnake while in the field with herfather last Saturday. It was a terrible wound; but theprompt use of soda and ammonia outwardly andwhisky inwardly saved the child’s life.34

Inorganic chemicals iodine and potassium iodidealso were applied to snakebite wounds. Some med-ical practitioners in the latter nineteen century con-sidered this treatment a specific antidote for rat-tlesnake venom.

Mr. James A. Hopkins has presented us with arecipe for curing snake-bit . . . 30 grains Iodine, 30grains Iodine Potassium, 1 ounce of water. Bathethe wound or keep moist with lint or cotton satu-rated with the solution. A cure is said to be certainfrom 5 to 20 minutes. The above was promulgatedby the Smithsonian Institute at Washington.35

Zinc chloride, a known disinfectant and antiseptic,also was used.

The best remedy for that purpose is cloride[sic] of zinc, 20 grains to the ounce of water, ap-plied to the wound. If much time elapses beforethe application is made to the wound, the patientshould take chlorate of potassa 15 grains once intwo hours until the swelling subsides. The patientshould be kept in a perfect state of quietude fromthe beginning.36

Salt has been used as a snakebite remedy sinceearly Rome and has been used for rattlesnake bites as

31. Kirwin Chief, July 3, 1878; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 889.32. Ellsworth Reporter, August 3, 1876; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 876–78.33. Hutchinson News, July 16, 1874; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 879.

34. Hays City Sentinel, May 9, 1879; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 892.35. Kirwin Chief, June 12, 1878; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 893.36. Hutchinson News, September 18, 1873.

The Cedarvale Times tell of a woman being bitby a young rattlesnake, and after the limb hadswollen fearfully cured herself by the applicatied[sic] of olive oil, after the fashion of the Apostles inolden times. She belongs to what is known as theFree Methodist denomination, and believes infaith and prayer. The matter has caused consider-able discussion among religious circles.31

ome treatments of snakebite on the Kansasfrontier bordered on the bizarre. The “split-chicken” remedy was a treatment in which a

chicken was killed and its flesh pressed against thebite as a poultice. As the venom was extracted fromthe victim the chicken’s flesh would turn green or itscomb blue.

A little girl in Wilson county who had beenbitten by a rattlesnake was immediately cured bythe application of the body of a fresh killed chick-en to the wound.32

Eggs, in various forms, were early ingredients forsnakebite treatment. They were a part of Louisianafolklore and were used in California in the 1850s. Fre-quently, eggs were one in a combination of poulticeingredients.

Dr. Cornell’s remedy is infallible. One tablespoonful of gunpowder, and salt, and the yellowof an egg, and mix so as to make a plaster; place ona cloth and apply to the wound, letting it extendan inch on all sides of the wound. As the poison isdrawn the plaster will lose its sticking qualities,and when full will fall off. Apply a new plasteruntil it sticks which is sure evidence that the poi-son is all out. This will cure a snake bite on eitherhuman or beast.33

Some poultices principally used inorganic mate-rials. One of the most common comprised either am-

S


cloth to the wound two or three times. Haveknown the cure in the neighborhood for sevenyears, and have never known it to fail on man orbeast. Subscriber.40

In the first printed account of treatments forsnakebite, mud was cited as aremedy. Treatment varied:sometimes the extremity wasburied in mud; other timesmud was used as a poultice orpart thereof.

A small boy was bit-ten by a rattlesnake a fewdays since, near the farm ofJames Wiley, on Buffalocreek. Dr. Craig, of Guilford,was called to attend the case.The boy was fully recovered.The doctor has tried the fol-lowing remedy often, andhas always met with success.He says:

For the treatment ofsnake bites I generally give

bromide of potassium in sufficient whisky to dis-solve it well, every half hour. To allay the pain,apply aqua ammonia and sweet oil to the bite, andoverlay with mud. This will cause quietude in ashort time; then give aqua ammonia, according tothe age of the patient, every three hours, for aboutthree days.—Neodesha Citizen.41

The sad case of the Briery child not only illus-trates how the bitten girl tried to use mud to alleviatethe effects of the venom but also provides a good ex-ample of the detailed reporting of rattlesnake bitessometimes found in the early frontier newspapers.

early as 1765. Salt was shown to have no direct effecton venom as early as 1787, but its use continued forat least another century.

Mr. A. Fenmore’s little boy was bitten by a rat-tlesnake yesterday. He is getting along first rate.The remedy used was wetsalt, bound on the bite andchanged every five min-utes. It is a good remedy.37

Salt frequently was used inconjunction with other poul-tice ingredients such as freshpork, soap, and garlic.38

Prayer was commonwhen a family member wasbitten. According to somenewspapers, faith in theLord also played a vital rolein the treatment of snakebite.

There was a lunatic inthe city Tuesday who had alittle girl with him who hadbeen bitten by a rattlesnakethe day before. He would not allow any remediesused, and said he was curing her by “faith.” Thegirl was said to be doing well, but we would ratherrisk a little whiskey and ammonia. Faith is consid-erably cheaper if it will work.39

oal oil (kerosene) was yet another poulticeingredient used on the Kansas frontier.Kerosene was thought to be a specific anti-

dote for venom, seeking it out and neutralizing it. Itwas supposed to offer visual proof of its efficacy byturning green as the poison was extracted.

Please publish in your paper that coal oil is asure cure for a rattlesnake bite. Apply it with a

37. Ford County Globe, June 25, 1878; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 892.38. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 883–84.39. Hutchinson News, October 4, 1877.

40. Great Bend Register, July 3, 1879; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 890.41. Saline County Journal, June 8, 1871; Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 893–94.

Prayer wascommon when

a family memberwas bitten. Faithin the Lord alsoplayed a vital rolein the treatment ofsnakebite.

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28 KANSAS HISTORY

OSBORNE COUNTY. It is our task to recordone of the most painful incidents that has evercome within our knowledge, resulting in the ago-nizing death of a young lady from the effects of abite by a snake. A daughter of Mr. J. G. Briery, whoresides on Twin creek, aged some thirteen or four-teen years, went with herbrother, last Saturday morn-ing, to his claim, some fivemiles distant, where he wasdoing some work, and thetwo expected to return to-gether in the afternoon. Theychanged their plans, howev-er, and about three o’clockthe girl set out for home onfoot and alone, carrying apail in which to gather somewild berries on the way.Later in the evening herbrother returned home, andgreat was the surprise to findthat the girl was still absent.Search was immediately in-stituted, but went on withoutany avail till two o’clock Sun-day. The pail she carried wasfound by the roadside about two miles from home,partly filled, which seemed to confirm beyond adoubt the great fear that some awful fate had de-layed her return. Mr. Ward and another party whowere engaged in the search, at last heard a call, andproceeding in the direction from which it came, be-held one of the most shocking and heartrendingsights the imagination is capable of picturing.There, sitting upon the ground in a nearly denud-ed state, they found the poor girl by a pool, whereshe had found her way and endeavored to extractthe poison which the fangs of a hateful rattlesnakehad buried in her foot, by burying it in the softmud. All this time she had remained there aloneand experienced the symptoms of a horrible deathapproaching, for the venom was working in her

system, and she must have suffered the most in-tense agony. Although sufficiently conscious to dis-cern and call for help when it was near, her denud-ed state indicated that her sufferings had at times atleast, driven her to frenzy. One of the party whofound her went at once for her father who came

with a team and she was con-veyed home. Nothing, how-ever, could be done byhuman hands to relieve thesufferer—it was too late, andin the evening the greatpanacea, death, which al-ways comes to the relief ofthe sufferer when anguish istoo great to be borne, rescuedher from her terrible misery.42

Based on early newspaperreports, more children thanadults were snakebite vic-tims—fifty-one children (62percent) and thirty-one adults(38 percent). This statisticprobably reflects children’slack of caution as theyplayed, explored, and did

their chores. Of the eighty-two individuals bitten,thirty-six (43.9 percent) died and forty-six (56.1 per-cent) lived. Of those thirty-six who died, thirty (83.3percent) were children and six (16.7 percent) wereadults. Likely, death resulted from the difference be-tween adult and child body sizes. Children have lessbody mass to assimilate and therefore are more apt tosuccumb to the effects of the poison as it spreadsthrough their bodies. Of those forty-six who survivedthe snakebites, twenty-one (45.7 percent) were chil-dren and twenty-five (54.3 percent) were adults.

42. Russell County Record (Russell), July 12, 1877.

More childrenthan adults

were snakebitevictims, probablyshowing children’slack of caution asthey played andexplored.


bviously rattlesnakes were an environmen-tal hazard for at least some western Kansassettlers, although the number of deaths at-tributed to snakebite during 1870–1879 ap-

pears to be inordinately high when compared withdata from Kansas during the past half-century. Per-haps, as previously suggested, many snakebite vic-tims died not from the venom but from a “treat-ment.” Alcohol poisoning, gangrene, and secondaryinfections most certainly contributed to the numberof fatalities. As time progressed and settlers learnedmore about the habits of rattlesnakes they undoubt-edly became more cautious during their daily activi-ties and took precautionary measures such as wear-ing protective clothing and boots.

Rattlesnakes still exist in Kansas but probably infewer numbers than in the 1870s, although this can-not be accurately measured. Many western rat-tlesnakes utilized prairie dog towns, and althoughnumerous at one time, large towns are now gone.Mechanization undoubtedly has depleted the num-bers of snakes. Modern vehicles, traveling at relative-ly high speeds, provide little opportunity for a snaketo move out of their paths. Road-killed snakes are acommon occurrence. Disks, combines, hay balers,and other farm machinery likely have killed manyrattlesnakes. Finally, the unfortunate predispositionof humankind to believe that the only “good” rat-tlesnake is a dead one, coupled with increased num-bers of people living in and traveling through west-ern Kansas, have eliminated even more.

Today people are more removed from the envi-ronment of the rattlesnake than they were in the1870s. Farmers no longer walk barefoot behind theplow, shock wheat by hand, or manually rake hay.They are far more removed from direct contact withthe surface of the soil than were farmers of the 1870s.Today few campers sleep on the ground. They utilizetrailers, pickup campers, recreational vehicles, andtents that can be completely closed; all effectively re-move the individual from the snake’s environs. If in-dividuals do hike through the prairie, they rarely, ifever, are barefoot.

Still, a few individuals are bitten each year, butdeath seldom results. Given our modern systems ofcommunication and transportation, most snakebitevictims are only minutes away from modern medicalfacilities. Effective antivenins are available to neutral-ize the effect of the venom. In the entire UnitedStates, estimated fatalities due to poisonoussnakebites range from nine to fifteen per year. Kansashas recorded but a single death in the last forty-sevenyears.43

43. Klauber, Rattlesnakes, 806–14; Carl H.Ernst, Venomous Reptiles ofNorth America (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), 8;F.E. Russell, “The Clinical Problem of Crotalid Snake Venom Poisoning,”in Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, New Series, 52 (New York:Springer-Verlag, 1979), 985; Anthony Acerrano, “Poisonous Snakes:HowDangerous Are They?” Sports Afield 205 (June 1990), 64. For Kansassnakebite death statistic, see Joseph T. Collins, A Guide to Great Snakes ofKansas (Lawrence: Kansas Nature Guides, University of Kansas NaturalHistory Museum, 1996), 27.

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apply salt, gunpowder, and the yellow of an egg': the treatment of

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