It was then thought wise to examine the boots, and in one of them was found, firmly embedded, the fang of the serpent.

It was supposed that in pulling on the boots each of the subsequent owners had scratched himself and became fatally inoculated with the venom, which was unsuspected and not combated.

The case is so strange as to appear hypothetic, but the authority seems reliable.
The following are three cases of snake-bite reported by surgeons of the United States Army, two followed by recovery, and the other by death: Middleton mentions a private in the Fourth Cavalry, aged twenty-nine, who was bitten by a rattlesnake at Fort Concho, Texas, June 27, 1866.
The bite opened the phalangeal joint of the left thumb, causing violent inflammation, and resulted in the destruction of the joint.

Three years afterward the joint swelled and became extremely painful, and it was necessary to amputate the thumb.

Campbell reports the case of a private of the Thirteenth Infantry who was bitten in the throat by a large rattlesnake.