Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-07-18

respondent OF ire Gb. LOUIE O6HlOCI v waving
from Paoli, Kansas, states that on a late
Sunday evening he took a heightened stroll
among the bluffs, and, charmed with the
scenery, reclined upon the. summit of a moss
covered rock, when he fell into a seml-ccn-
seious sleep. Whilst in that state, he felt at
the extremities of the fingers of his left hand
a sensation new and peculiar, which sent a
thrill of pleasure to the mind and heart. 1t
was soothing, drawing, and agreeably titilla-
ting, as if the fingers were dissolving away
in a delightful self-absorption.
Just then" be says, " from this sort of
blissfuI abandon, / was startled by the report s
ola gunshot within a few PAGES of me. | $
sprang to my feet, and with establishment
saw nv friend Mitchell standing near. My :
attention was then caught by the sound of
the most shrill, keen, ringing rattle that ever
penetrated human ear and, on looking down
/ discovered a huge rattlesnake, with CORY
head, quiver;ng and writhing in the agony
of death, and sending forth from his erect
tail the terrible tocsin that l heard
His friend Mitchell told him that his rest.
ing place was the top of a rattlesnake den,
and pointed out the o~rifces through which
they passed I, that ne was in the habit Of
coming there on Sunday evenings to shoot
rattlesnakes; when he discovered to his hor-
ror a monstrous snake licking his hand and
covering it with a shiny co9ting preparatory
to.deglutiGon, he discharged a load of
buckshot into his head.
He had scarcely told me this, which took
but a moment, when rattles all around
brought US to q recollection that we were
not yet free from Danger. We saw ten or
fifteen large rattiesnakes approaching US
from every quarter, with eyes glaring re-
vengefully, barbed conquest hrusting threaten
ingly, and rattles sounding alarmingly.-
They are brave, and cannot be inundated,
and will die over the dead body of their COM
panion sooner than desert it. We knew the
indomitable character Of our enemy, and
Mitchell and I, with his double barrelled
gun and my sticks and stones, fought our
way out as best we could. Mitchell has
killed one hundred and seven Of them-the
largest of which had twenty-six ~rattles. He
} says the Indians who have been in the habit
of hunting them for many years have killed
$ much older ones, and have slain thousands
q -~~JI<<< <><~~~~-
@ THE ARKANSAS GOLD MINES. A Mr.. Har
rison, in q letter to the Little Rock Gazette
written at Red Fork, Ark, under date 0
June LIST, says that three others and himsel
II reached the mines on the 4th of May, an
that they brought nothing with them but fry
!. ing pans, but even with these the first pa
full they obtained SIS worth of gold DUST
The letter goes on to say
w stopped mere SoVeral udyS, dV6FdSlU
from $75 to $50 per day. We could hay
made more than we did, but we had nothin
ks to dig with. We then proceeded to a sprini
Id which is the place where the gold is said
~ have been first discovered. Here we four
~ that the water, boiling up out Of the groun
AZ contained some small Jumps of gold and
he large quantity of the dust.
tie went to California in 1849, at the tir
les the gold was found in the greatest abundant
tly but this beats California a long ways.
ng have no doubt that fla man had the rig
kind of a gold rocker, he could get gold he
:" as fast as he could count it. We have be
here about a month and have made sol
ing S $500 each. There are aboutthree thousa
Ielr people in the different mines, and more co
nd ing every day. There are so many here Il
vs. : provisions are high beef s to 10 cents
mound flour S9nHeA6sA4s -
Quite on The top Of the Blue Ridge, n
the YancY line, (N. CO. there lives a lad,
many particulars much like a snake He
anu from appearance, about IA years old, "
the grown, and looks quite healthy. His t
lie, to a stranger, is very indistinct his ton,
EN- seeming too heavy, very often thrust beyt
full, the mouth with a rolling, ,vibratory mot
roes His back, which ! saw, and touched mys
af,I is pied with light and livid c~olors, much
the dark rattle,snake it also possesses a Sc
&c u nature, smooth, when rubbed downwa
rom but quite rough when the hand passes.
I'LL ward. His hands are covered with hs
the bony excrescences, as if disposed to for
INV rattle.
inc He has a strong taste for music-exce
only by serpents, which are charmed f
M their victims by music.
Inc When winter has gone, and spring CO..
Or at with a smiling sun. great %cantion IS roo
envy ed to prevent his running into the woo
hn ohnnSnn n okrnnr I,,no,Sk:o~ Il H..
!, pi- TO the WHO forest, there to enjoy himself
ond lying on old logs or at other times, dash
they Lvnnville 'r run NJ ,eI not - far ru from mI b;s mo 81
her home.
owe. 1t is said the mother-a lady of some
ming now, was, before the birth Of this strs
0 ut son, walking through an old field, in Sc
art of reeds, to be used as quilts in weavin
She stepped on a rattle snake, but witt
being bitten. After turning round with
from much alright, she proceeded to despatch
n venomous beast, which mothers and da
that ters are not afraid to attempt in these m
she tains. But, strange to tell, that son, in
He and mind, bears marks of his mothers
oams marks of the squamous monster, W
80 chilling rattle was heard, and whose "
soy ings of death were felt by that mother, Y
Aate' bruising the Serpents'S 'headP
HASH Some strange things up here in t
'hing mountainsl WESLE
good Tuv Mrpnpp &c prof clor1 G p.omx
Pontotoc, Miss, of which we lately 1
mention, bears a remarkable likeness t
case of Matt Ward and Prof. Butler.
the circumstances are narrated by a
from the place, ~itappears that Brown
a native of New Hampshire, a gradual
writ Dartmouth College, and Principal of
they Pontotoc Male Academy. A few days
icken vious to the murder he punished, for
chilly misdemeanor, a lad named Carey v
At ar. about twelve years of age. John, an
Tooal brother of the lad, who attended the
= ~" school, was subsequently expelled for h;
VI sne at the time twice threatened Prof. Bro
Us sh. he whipped his brother again. Three
upon after the occurrence, another brother. n
press Keith Wray, eighteen years of age, whC
RS. as studying medicine in an Office in the
,dnoss armed himself with a re volver and I
800 knife, went to the academy, and W
e'en Brown called out, but as he was too
wave, excited at the time, the assistant refuse
ng.- request. Wray left, saying that he '
yh the see him on his way homeland, at the
& sun of the session, he met his victim in the
I;fa lie park. He accosted him rudely. tolc
wbou he had imposed upon his brother, and.
49, Brown undertook to reason the matter
" COLI oallad him h. a - .ao.l4:- =.