1996 #2 - Austin Genealogical Society

. fiGSQuargrtv Vohnne XXXVII. 910.2 (June 1996) Austh. TX
effect of the poison. Three months after the experiment, a three
year old boy was bitten by a rattler and Col. Crimmins offered his
blood. After the boy failed to respond to other treatment, it was
accepted. The next day, the boy sat up in bed and played with his
toys. He later fully recovered. Col. Cridns' theory was
proved.
In 1953, Col. Crimmins received the Walter Reed Award "in
recognition of courageous service to mankind." Col. Crimmins had
allowed himself to be inoculated with snake venom until he could
give blood transfusions to snake bite victims and later help to
develop the anti-venom serum. Col. Crimmins died in San Antonio
at Brook Army Hospital on 05 February 1955.' .
Many years later, the Castro Colonies Heritage Association
published the Medina County History.! In it, David W. Mechler
wrote of the Mechler Hospital, "Mrs. Anton Hardt of Yancey was
bitten by a rattlesnake on the forehead while sleeping. Her face
was quite swollen and discolored and there was great fear for her
life. Mrs. Mechler, realizing the seriousness of it pleaded with
Dr. Smith not to let Mrs. Hardt die since she was the mother of
small children. Dr. Smith, with tears in his eyes, promised that
he was doing everything he knew to pull her through. Mrs. Hardt
did recover and was later released from the hospital," She suf-
fered no after effects in subsequent years, nor did she ever for-
get the excellent medical care she received.
My mother, Laura Josephine Rose Frick Hardt, born on 29 April
1893 lived to the age of 90, dying on 04 September 1983 and is
buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Hondo, Texas, next to the grave of my
father, Anton John Hardt, born 10 December 1892, who died on 13
June 1980. A city girl from San Antonio, she had given up a ca-
reer in 1920 as a supervisor for Southwestern Bell Telephone to
marry and move to the country and live with the man she loved. It
was only after my father's death that she told me that her sisters
said she would never make it in the country. She became an excel-
lent cook and ranch wife, but most of all a remarkable woman.
In addition to my mother's snake bite, my grandfather Henry
George Hardt, my father Anton John Hardt, and my brother Richard
Wilburn Hardt, were all bitten by rattlesnakes on this same ranch.
'West Texas Historical Association Year Book, Abilene, Texas
Vol. XXXI, October, 1955, pp. 145-150, reproduced from the hold-
ings of the Texas State Library.
'Ibid.
6The History of Medina County Texas, Castro Colonies Heritage
Association, Castroville, Texas, pp. 55-56.
Page 78