From the April 28, 1890 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“While a boy was cutting bananas from a bunch hanging in front of a Burlington, Vt., grocery store, a large tarantula sprang at him, striking him on the back of the neck. From the boy’s neck the insect leaped into a barrel half full of crackers. No one caring to meddle with such an ugly customer, at the suggestion of a policeman, the barrel was doused with kerosene and then carried into the street and set on fire.”