In Russell’s time, any person who drank to excess and suffered the effects of delirium tremens as a result was said to be “seeing snakes.” The story goes that Russell once modeled this coiled rattlesnake and took it to a local saloon, where he slipped it over the neck of a liquor bottle when a drunken patron wasn’t looking. The reaction of the unfortunate victim is not recorded, but Russell was known throughout the region for his practical jokes. On another occasion he fashioned and colored a very accurate model of a Gila monster from photographs. In cahoots with his old friend Bill Rance, the owner of the Silver Dollar Saloon in Great Falls, Russell displayed the model in a cage in a darkened room, saying that anyone who approached it should avoid the lizard’s breath, which was poisonous. According to the Great Falls newspaper, people either approached the cage holding their noses, or simply refused to go near it. Russell had everyone fooled for a couple of days until a couple of cowboys from Arizona wandered in and pronounced it a fake. Russell was said to have laid low for a few days until some of those who were fooled had calmed down.