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mind that brought him such success in training dogs and horses.
“Rattlesnakes are extremely nervous, fear man greatly and the secret of handling them is to calm their fears. All will rattle and fight when you first pick them up; but after being in captivity for a while, if care is taken to allay their nervousness and fears, they are quiet and harmless to handle,” Mr. Pollock maintained.
Some in the snake charmers audience thought he squeezed his snakes to make them shake their rattles. “But I ask you, what sort of fool would I be to squeeze a live rattlesnake in my hand? Any snake would strike immediately,” he wrote. “The trick was that when I wanted the snake to rattle, I would give my commands in a voice louder than usual and when I wanted it to desist, I would soften my voice and make my ccfThmands in a soothing manner.”
It was just this strategy that he was using when he put on his last snake charming act. The demonstration was under way when, from the audience of about 200, a welldressed man, seemingly under the influence of alcohol, approached and announced loudly: “Oh, for goodness sake, they haven’t got any fangs. Give me the snake.”
Mr. Pollock warned him to keep away, but in dealing with the heckler, he momentarily took his eyes off the snake.
“Like a flash of lightning, it struck at me.” It was the first time that any of his scaly pets had attacked their master.
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