I killed a black widow on the front step a couple of days ago. It's only the 3rd one I've seen up here in Idaho. When I used to work on the gasoline pumps at the gas stations back in Texas, especially the older ones, I had to be very careful. The cool, dark areas under the pumps were a favorite of theirs. I opened the door on one once and happened to look where I had my fingers. There was a black widow about half an inch from them! I've probably killed more of these critters than most people have seen.
In the late 1950s, I went to visit some friends for a week. It was a little country town south of Waco, named Chilton. The family had a boy just older than I, and a girl just younger. Before they moved to Chilton, we lived only about 6 miles apart and visited a lot.
The 2nd day I was there, a neighbor came by and told us about a 10 years old boy who lived about 3 miles down the road, that was helping his mom move a chicken coop. A black widow bit him on the hand. It took the ambulance a while to reach the farm and before it got him to the hospital, he died.