Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1879 — Crushed by an Anaconda. [ARTICLE]

Crushed by an Anaconda.

One of the most intrepid wild beust tamers in Europe, Karolyi, a Magyar of colossal stature and extraordinary physical strength, has recently fallen a victim to a dread contingency of his perilous profession. He was performing before a crowded audience in Ma-

drid the other day one of his most sensational feats, which consisted in aliowing a huge boa constrictor, over twenty feet in length, to enfold his body in its tremendous coils, when suddenly a piercing cry escaped him, which was greeted by the public witn around of applause, under the supposition that its utterance constituted a part’ of the performance. It proved, however to be the outcome of a strong man’s death agony. The gigantic snake had tightened its coils and crushed poor Karolyi’s life out of him with one terrific squeeze. As his head fell back and his eyes became fixed in a glassy stare, the plaudits died away, and were succeeded by the stillness of utter consternation. The suake and its lifeless victim swayed for a second or two of inexpressible horror and then toppled over on the boards of the stage ; but the boa did not in the least relax his grip upon the corpse, which remained for more then an hour imprisoned in its hideDU? thraldom, nobody daring to approach the lithe monster, of whose powers such appalling proof had been given. At length it occurred to one of Karo lyi’s attendants to place a bowl of milk in a cage within sight of tb< mighty serpent, which slowly un wound itself from the dead body and glided into its den. irresistably tempted thereto by its favorite dainty. A post mortem examiobtion of the unfortunate athlete’s remains discovered no fewer than eighty seven fractures of his bones effected by the constriction of the serpent’s coils. — 'Scientific American. A coat of gum copal varnish applied to the soles of boots and shoe , and repeated as it dries until the pores are filled and the surface shines like polished mahogany, will make the sole waterproof, and it lasts three times longer.—Scientific American.