Big Tarantula in Prison

1905

Interesting Pet Prisoner in Ohio State Penitentiary

Besides the big yellow rat catcher Tabby and the Maltese Dan, which will do all the tricks commonly done by dogs, such as jumping through the hands, sitting up to "say his prayers," etc., the Ohio penitentiary boasts another interesting pet.

He arrived recently from the sunny south in a bunch of bananas and is a great tarantula, which looked so ferocious they put him in solitary confinement on sight, although no misdemeanors can be proved against him. When standing with his legs spread out he just fills the bottom of the pint milk bottle in which he slept last night. A hole was cut in the cover for air and Mexico Pete, as the guards have named him, did very well last night, but will require larger quarters when he desires to exercise.

His chief amusement was tying into bundles the numerous flies which by some odd song or perfume were attracted into his bottle. Those he couldn't eat he spun a chain around and laid by for future provisions. Pete is dark red and very hairy — for his covering is too long and coarse to be simply "fuzzy" — and although he has ten legs, like any tarantula, his body is larger, and he has a head something like a turtle's. He is also blessed with a ravenous appetite and his mouth could be plainly seen opening and closing last night, already in anticipation of his morning breakfast of bananas.

A Dangerous Nap In Desert Caravan

1899

That travellers in the desert would be wise not to take a nap when ahead of their caravans is proved — though it hardly needed proving — by the experience of Robert L. Jefferson, F. R. G. S., who relates his adventure in the Wide World Magazine.

I had got ahead, not only of the caravan, but of Bekel [his guide], and wearied with my exertions, lay down on the sand. I think I must have fallen asleep. I certainly remember picking from my face what looked like an enormous spider.

I thought nothing of it until I began to feel a pain underneath my left eye, similar to that left by a mosquito sting. In ten minutes my cheek had swollen enormously, and it was clear that I had been stung by some venomous reptile or insect. By the time Bekel came up the swelling had increased so much that I could not see out of the left eye.

As soon as Bekel saw my face, he seemed stricken with terror. He leaped from his horse, knocked rather than pushed me down, and with the fingers of both hands commenced pressing the protuberance under my eye.

The pain was terrible, and I yelled in my agony, until I think I must have fainted, although I well remember one of the Kirghiz coming with a long knife, when at once the idea entered my brain that they meant to "do for" me. The knife, however, was used only to extract the sting of the tarantula.

When I reached Petro-Alexandrovsk and related the incident to the doctor of the lazaret there, I learned that I owed my life to the promptitude of Bekel and the Kirghiz. Another hour and help would have been too late.

Keep Your Own Secrets

Never tell your resolution beforehand. -- Seiden
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Just So
It is not every bicycle rider who can lower the record, but it s a poor bicycle that cannot lower the rider.
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Spider Builds Strong Web
Spiders are met with in the forest of Java whose webs are so strong that it requires a knife to cut through them.
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Hatpin in Cow's Heart
In the heart of a cow that died at Tamworth, New South Wales, was found part of a hatpin 5 or 6 inches in length.
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Red Headed Dwarfs
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Talk Less and Listen More
"In the multitude of words there wanteth not transgression, but he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely." -- Proverbs of Solomon, x:19
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In a Few Words
The short and simple annals of the "bird man." Aviation, adulation, atmospheric agitation, pulverization, cremation, canonization.

--The Ellis Review-Headlight, Ellis, Kansas, 1911.