Everybody’s friend Abraham “Abe” Minckler gained a small degree of local fame in the Sullivan County section of the Catskills as a well-known rattlesnake catcher, entertainer and salesman. By around the year 1900, Abe had worked at catching rattlesnakes for over 30 years.

Everybody's Friend, Abe

Abraham Minckler was born on June 21, 1829, the son of John Minckler and Catherine (Post) Minckler. Abe was baptized in July 1829 in Schoharie County, New York. Abe married Claracilla “Clara” E. Ferguson (1835-1912), who was born at Shavertown in Delaware County, New York. Various census records report Abe’s occupation as “farmer.” At around the year 1900, now over 70 years of age, Abe was living at Kellams on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.

Abe made a living for many years exhibiting the reptiles at fairs and in local towns, selling live snakes to zoos and circuses and selling snake oil and snake skins. The snake skins were often cured to make belts, charms and trophies. Live snakes were worth about 50 to 75 cents each, which were sometimes sold to museums in New York City. The snake oil was thought to be an invaluable painkiller and was used to treat rheumatism, while the snakeskin belts were thought to possess great virtue in the cure of “misery.” Abe had been bitten several times, but always cured himself with an herb remedy created by Joe Geer, the “Rattlesnake Man,” of Long Eddy, who in turn learned the remedy from the Indians.

In the summer of 1899, Abe captured 18 rattlesnakes at Shohola, Pennsylvania. He sought to train the reptiles “until they become partially civilized, then sell them at the highest market price. Since the snake is a foe to man we deem Mr. Minckler worthy of a bounty in removing this evil from the habitations of man. The traveler would do well to cultivate the acquaintance of this wholesale snake dealer. He could undoubtedly furnish material for a good sized snake story.” (Tri-States Union. June 8, 1899.)

In the summer of 1901, at Goshen, New York, “a strange traveler, giving his name as A. Minckler, was the object of interest on Main Street. He makes a specialty of hunting rattlesnakes and has a basket specially prepared for the poisonous reptiles. Upon request he stepped into Hanrahan’s store and showed the snakes. Those he had were large in size, having ten and twelve rattles. He also carried several bottles of rattlesnake oil which he said he sold at $1 an ounce. His outfit consisted of several iron pikes with hooks attached, and also several wooden pieces resembling pike poles. These instruments he used in capturing the snakes. Mr. Minckler left for the mountains, where he expects to spend some time hunting the snakes in their dens.” (The Independent Republican. June 14, 1901.)

In June 1902, a local newspaper noted that Abe had captured 20 rattlesnakes in one week near Hankins, New York. In July 1902 Abe was giving an exhibition of five rattlesnakes and one black snake at Middletown, New York, when he was arrested and then instructed by Captain Brinckerhoff not to give any more street exhibitions.

In August 1901, Abe visited the village of Jeffersonville, New York, where he exhibited four live rattlesnakes that he carried in a box. “He handles the poisonous reptiles fearlessly by stepping on their heads and then catching them by the neck. Minckler says that the common belief that a rattlesnake can jump or strike its length is false; it will, he says, do well to strike a distance of six inches.” (Sullivan County Record. August 22, 1901.)

In October 1902, Abe was at Binghamton, New York, where he exhibited the rattlesnakes “to the curious. He carries them in a tight box with a sliding top, and if bystanders will make up a purse of twenty-five cents he will open the box and handle the snakes, which are rattlers in full possession of their fangs. Perhaps it is due to the cold fall weather, but whatever the reason, the reptiles are quite torpid. When Minckler puts them on the ground the bystanders always scatter, but the rattlers seldom do more than move their heads about as if curious to see what is going on. Minckler, however, never leaves them out long.” (“A. Minckler Catches Snakes for a Living.” Broome Republican. October 25, 1902.) The article also noted that Abe was seemingly wearing the same clothes and black-striped shirt from a previous visit to Binghamton four years prior.

A popular postcard published by the George V. Millar Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania depicted Abe sitting on a folding chair with each foot on a live rattlesnake while he was holding another with his hooked stick. Two skins are draped over his shoulders and six more ore displayed to his right. The sign reads “A. Minckler, Dealer in Snakes, Snake Skins, Snake Oils, Also Ferrets. Snake Bite Cure A Specialty. Kellam, PA.” Minckler seemed “to have no fear of the snakes and handles them as though they were as harmless as kittens.”

The legacy of Abe Minckler lives on through the work of author Clara Gillow Clark who published a book titled Willie and the Rattlesnake King in 1997. The book tells the fictional tale of 13-year-old Willie Bishop as he runs away from hopes of joining a traveling medicine show to team up with snake handler Abraham Minckler, the Rattlesnake King.

Abe Minckler was killed instantly by an Erie train engine near Callicoon Depot on November 21, 1902. Abe was returning from Binghamton where he had sold a box of live rattlesnakes. On the return train trip, Abe got off on a foggy morning at Callicoon Depot, where he began to make his way along the east bound train tracks. An Erie engine, which had been hauling an east bound train, got short of water, left the cars at Rock Run, and made its way to Callicoon for water. In backing up its cars, the train struck Abe, “who evidently was not expecting anything to come from that direction on the east bound track.”

Abe’s funeral was held at Kellams, Pennsylvania, with Reverend Rodney officiating. Abe is buried at Union Cemetery in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. He was survived by his wife and three sons, as well as two brothers, David of Fremont Center, and Harmon of Middletown.