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Show EMULATES ST. PATRICK. Father Rodriguez Laboring to Rid Arizona of Deadly Rattlesnake. Phoenix. Ariz. To emulate St. Patrick Pat-rick and do for his country what the Irish saint did for Ireland rid it of snakes is the desire of the Kev Father Pedro Podriguez. Indeed, Father Bodriguez would go even further, fur-ther, and not only rid the southwest of its rattlesnakes, but also destroy the insect life which makes life unpleasant un-pleasant on the arid lands. Fifty years ago he came to Arizona and began his labors for the Church in Nevv Mexico, Arizona and Old Mexico. Mex-ico. -A short time later he brought his sister and younger brother out west and establiehcd them on a small ranch in the upper valely of the Yaqui, river. He himself was stationed at Guay-nias. Guay-nias. One day a message came to him tilling of the- death of his brother and sister. .The latter had gone to a spring for water, and as she stooped a warning warn-ing rattle had sounded under her hand. I Before she could draw back the rat- j tl. snake bit her in the cheek. She tore the reptile loose, and, hurrying-to the boose, fell in a faint. Her brother reached home to lind her dying, i ne following day at the spring he, loo, was bitten by a rattler and died. Father Rodriguez buried the bodies side by side, and for nearly twenty years remained in the solitude of a monastery. Some ten years ago failing fail-ing health obliged him to live in the open air. Since then he .has devoted much of his time to a scientific and persistent slaughter of snakes, and the walls of his country home are covered with skins nd rattles. "No, it is not a feeling of revenge that urges me on in my war on the reptiles." says Father Pedro, "but I must in some manner improve my time out of doors, and I know of no better way than to kill snakes. Then, too, it is not an unprofitable business, and from my snake skins and oil I am enabled en-abled each year to give a snug sum to the Church." Father Pedro has killed neariy 1.S00 rattlesnakes in the last ten year. In all that time he has never been bitten. Nearly all the snakes have been secured se-cured by his tamed and trained road runners. The road runner, or chaparral bird, is the hereditary enemy of the rattler, and its most dangerous foe. and it is by the use of these birds, rather t..an his own prowess, that Father Pedro hopes to force the rattlesnake to extinction. ex-tinction. All through northern Mexico and the territories Father Pedro has hunted with his birds, and it is by securing se-curing the general taming and use of j the chaparral birds that for the pur- i pose that he hopes to rid the south- j west of snakes, tarantulas, scorpions and centipedes.. As far back as traditions of the Indians In-dians go the chaparral bird has been looked upon as a benefactor of man- kind, while pi.-tngraphs have been I found which indicate that in prehistoric prehis-toric times he was a familiar object. Many rude pictures in stone show the long-legged birds in the act of devouring devour-ing snakes. The name road runner the bird earned earn-ed hy its habit of frequenting roadways, road-ways, perhaps better to discern in the dust the trails of its victims and it? propensity for displaying its remarkable remark-able speed to passersby. It is able to keep pace with most horses for a short distance. The i-erad runner is poorly equipped with wings. In fad, the short flippers which take their place are only valuable in accelerating its running powers. Plainsmen who have seen it at work tell remarkable stories of its fighting quilities and immunity from poison. The latter theory is true to a certain extent, and when the marvelous quickness quick-ness of the bird does not save it from the lightning-like stroke or the rattler, ic resorts to a remedy which it gathers from the stem of the small cactus. |