Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1918 — USE SNAKES IN WAR [ARTICLE]

USE SNAKES IN WAR

California Man Has Scheme to Kill Off Huns. "Lonesome Jack" Says Side Winders Would Exterminate Whole Boche Army.- \ Los Angeles, Cal.—“ Lonesome Jack” Allman, king of all rattlesnake catchers, offers to gather 10,000 side winders, or hornet rattlesnakes if the government will let him, dump them into' trenches vacated to the Germans by the Americans and let the snakes do the rest. The side winder is a death dealer extarordinary, strikes three times as fast as any other rattler, and, unlike others, does not act on the heart but paralyzes the nerves within 20 minutes. Allman would have no trouble in gathering them in Arizona and the Imperial valley, he says. The Germans if they possessed such a deadly weapon would not hesitate to use it, Allman believes. “The beauty of my idea is that the rattler can livetlve or six months Tit captivity without either food or water and they will be just as effective during that time,” says Allman. “I have an antidote for rattlesnake bite that could be supplied to anyone that handles them, but the Germans would not know what stung them. “My idea would be to catch them and then soak their tails in warm water. Then the shell that rattles and gives warning could be removed without Injury to the snake. Their fangs are so sharp that unless the warning is given with the rattles a person would hardly know what bit him. Side winders range in size from four to twelve feet.