"An able-bodied boa constrictor does not smell like peaches."

Cornering the snake market isn’t as easy as it looks. But one bold visionary sought to do just that, according to an article in the May 28, 1900 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which was reprinted from the Philadelphia Bulletin. An excerpt:

“Jacobus Hope of 29 North Ninth Street is the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of the snake trust. Mr. Hope has cornered the market. Snakes labeled ‘Jacobus Hope, Philadelphia, Pa.,’ are coming this way from all quarters of the globe by rail, by steamer, on horseback and on foot. Like Joe Leiter of Chicago, who cornered the wheat market. Mr. Hope means to have the snakes actually in his possession. The snake hunters of India have been snaking day and night to fill the orders of Jacobus Hope, Philadelphia.

‘Send every python you can lay your hand on,’ were the cabled instructions of Mr. Hope, and as a result India’s supply of pythons and anacondas is well nigh exhausted.

India, it is reported, had a cold spell, which gave the snake crop a setback from which it will take a year to recover. Several hundred yards of snakes are expected from India any day now. All snakes sell by the yard. The regular price of a python up to ten feet is $2.50. Beyond that length the price grows abruptly steeper. A twenty-foot python is worth about $300.

"All snakes sell by the yard."

Boa constrictors from South America are headed this way. They come in boxes that look like giants’ coffins. The baggage man will be in doubt as to the nature of his baggage, as an able-bodied boa constrictor does not smell like peaches.

Thousands of dollars’ worth of the boa constrictors will soon be in the city. Texas is rushing east hog snakes, whip snakes and thunder snakes. A few barrels of blue racers, chicken snakes, bull snakes and milk snakes are coming from New Mexico, while Arizona will be able to spare several crates of ribbon snakes, black snakes and adders, not to mention a Gila monster or so.

In answer to Mr. Hope’s cry for snakes and scorpions, Philadelphia promises to be the greatest snake center of the world, herself having a supply of snakes, big and little, that has never been equaled. As soon as the weather moderates, the busy little Jerseyite, with his stout canvas bag, will go snaking. Pine snakes are the Jerseyite’s specialities. These snakes sell at retail at so much a foot. They grow to a length of five feet.

"Philadelphia promises to be the greatest snake center of the world."

‘Never,’ said Mr. Hope, ‘has there been such a demand for snakes. I have orders from Maine to California, and never, it seems to me, have they been so scarce. The zoological gardens and museums are wanting new snakes. The small tent shows, of which there are more than 250 in the United States, are getting ready to start out. Each of these shows carries from ten to twenty snakes, and the proprietors all want their orders filled immediately. I am rushing the snakes on as fast as possible, but,’ concluded Mr. Hope pathetically, ‘I can’t make snakes.’

Any man who has snakes can now dispose of them at famine prices.”