2.
In Kentucky, sometime in the 1930s, a woman named Shirley Hall died from a snakebite sustained at her church. But if anyone living knows precisely where and when she perished, they haven't told anyone who thought to write it down.
3.
Big Sandy, Virginia, August 11, 1931. Mrs. Lois Guire, a woman whose congregation knew her as Sister Smothers, waved a rattlesnake over her head during a revival meeting, declaring that her faith protected her from the serpent's milky fangs. When she placed the snake back in its box a short while later, it turned and struck her hand. On August 19, The Southeast Missourian ran an article about the incident, titled, "Evangelist Recovers from Snakebite." On August 16, The Cincinnati Enquirer had already reported Mrs. Guire's death.
4.
In 1934 a venomous snakebite kills a signs following man in Alabama. Neither his name, nor the exact location of his death were recorded.
5.
Bartow, Florida, May 4, 1936. A preacher at a revival service said 27-year-old itinerant shoe peddler and strawberry picker Alfread Weaver was "bitten twice on the arm but paid little attention to it at the time and spurned medical aid." Another witness said Weaver was "ready to lay down his life for the Lord." When the five-foot-long diamondback rattlesnake first struck Weaver on his arm, he threw it across the church, where it landed on the lap of a woman sitting in the pews. The woman kicked the snake back towards Weaver, who picked it up again. After the snake bit him a second time, this time on the wrist, Weaver's arm swelled and turned black; shortly after, he lost consciousness. A coroner's jury deliberated for ten minutes before deciding Weaver had perished "by the bite of a rattlesnake through his own carelessness." Polk County officials paid his burial expenses.
2.
In Kentucky, sometime in the 1930s, a woman named Shirley Hall died from a snakebite sustained at her church. But if anyone living knows precisely where and when she perished, they haven't told anyone who thought to write it down.
3.
Big Sandy, Virginia, August 11, 1931. Mrs. Lois Guire, a woman whose congregation knew her as Sister Smothers, waved a rattlesnake over her head during a revival meeting, declaring that her faith protected her from the serpent's milky fangs. When she placed the snake back in its box a short while later, it turned and struck her hand. On August 19, The Southeast Missourian ran an article about the incident, titled, "Evangelist Recovers from Snakebite." On August 16, The Cincinnati Enquirer had already reported Mrs. Guire's death.
4.
In 1934 a venomous snakebite kills a signs following man in Alabama. Neither his name, nor the exact location of his death were recorded.
5.
Bartow, Florida, May 4, 1936. A preacher at a revival service said 27-year-old itinerant shoe peddler and strawberry picker Alfread Weaver was "bitten twice on the arm but paid little attention to it at the time and spurned medical aid." Another witness said Weaver was "ready to lay down his life for the Lord." When the five-foot-long diamondback rattlesnake first struck Weaver on his arm, he threw it across the church, where it landed on the lap of a woman sitting in the pews. The woman kicked the snake back towards Weaver, who picked it up again. After the snake bit him a second time, this time on the wrist, Weaver's arm swelled and turned black; shortly after, he lost consciousness. A coroner's jury deliberated for ten minutes before deciding Weaver had perished "by the bite of a rattlesnake through his own carelessness." Polk County officials paid his burial expenses.
6.
Virginia, 1936. The Revered T. Anderson.
7.
Georgia, 1938. Mrs. Jeffie Smith.
16 & 17.
September 1, 1945. The Reverend Harvey O. Kirk rested his right arm on the left side of his pulpit, one foot propped on the railing below, and held a rattlesnake in his left hand. When his 26-year-old wife, Anna, approached her husband, she patted the snake on its head, and it struck her three times in her left wrist.
Time magazine reported that her husband "prayed as never before" in an attempt to save her life, while Mrs. Kirk said, "I promised the Lord if I was ever bitten, I would trust in Him. Precious God! Glory to His name!" Though she declined medical treatment for the snakebite, she allowed a doctor to attend her, three days later, when she gave birth to the Kirk's first child. She had been six months pregnant. The infant died moments after delivery. The doctor later said that nothing could have been done about her snakebites by then. When Mrs. Kirk died an hour later, neighbors said they could still hear her singing hymns.
After postmortem blood tests determined that Mrs. Kirk died of snakebite and not childbirth complications, Virginia's District Attorney charged Rev. Kirk with murder. During the trial, Rev. Kirk revealed he had committed his wife to the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum in Marion, Virginia three times before her death. The asylum released Mrs. Kirk against the advice of her doctors in the January preceding her death, after her husband signed a statement assuming all legal responsibility for his wife. Rev. Kirk was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to a two-year term in the State Penitentiary, of which he served three months.
26, 27, 28, & 29.
West Virginia, 1947. Martha Mullins died after drinking strychnine, as did Kenny Johnson and Mr. Ball Body. In late August that same year, Ernest Davis drank strychnine in Summerville, Georgia, where Time magazine reported his death:
"Then Preacher [Gordon] Miller brought out the 'salvation
cocktail.' He shouted: 'Brother Davis, do you believe in the
power of the Lord great enough to take what's in this bottle?'
Farmer Ernest Davis, 34, grabbed the glass, took several gulps.
Five days later, Farmer Davis died of strychnine poisoning. As
he was buried last week, his wife standing beside the grave
said: 'Ernest just had too much faith.'"
