Mountain Democrat., 1857-07-25
Always Right but Right or Wrong, Our Country"
IIug;gcd by n Snake aud the Escape

was brought up near the Canada line
in Vermont, where my father owned "a
large farm. Not far from his farm was
quite lake, where VIC used to enjoy our
| selves fislling and sailing. One afternoon
] saw flock Of black ducks fly over the
| house, and was surc they lighted on the
lake; 50 seized my doullc.barrclcd gun
and ammunition and started of. When
] reached the landing, saw the ducks
fly otfby the opposite shore. ] at once
cut some green bOuehs with my knife {;
and having rugged up the bows Of small
flat-bottolncl scull we kept on purpose
for such work, jumped in and started
! of. had got near enough for a shot,
and had drawn in the Scull and was in
the act of taking up my gun, when the
| ducks started up. AS quick as possible
drew one hammer and let drive. hit
two of thcm but they didn't fall into the
water. They tluttcred along until they
fell into the tall grass up in thccove. The
water was low and the place was dry
where they were. Ipulled up as far as
| could, and then got out and walked up.
! knew very near where one Of the ducks
had fallen, and very soon had my eye up
on it. AS | ran to take it, saw the
head ofa blacksnakc pop out and catch it
by the wing. saw only the head and
neck ofthc reptile, and had no idea how
large a snake it was or, if had, probably
should have done just as did, for lhad
no idea of fearing such a thng-sO just
ran up and snatched the bird away.
had left my gun in the boat, and had
nothing to kill the chap with; but as !
took the duck, just put my foot on the
thici" neck.
The ground was moist and Shiny, and
as the snake had his body braced among
the roots of the stout reeds, he took his
head out from under my foot about as
quick aS a man could comfortably think.
| thought I'd run back to the boat and
get my gun and try to kill this fellow
and had just turned for this purpose,
when felt something strike my legs as
though somebody had thrown u rope
around it. / looked down and found
that the snake mad taken turn around
my left leg with his tail, and was in the
act of clearing his body from the grass.
| dropped the duck and gave a smart
kick, but that didn't loosen him 80 ]
tried to put my right foot on him and thus
draw my leg away; but might as well
have tried to put my foot on streak of
lightning.
had forgotten the proportionatc size
of the head of this specie of the black
snake. ] had expected to see snake
three or four feet long, but instead Of that
he was nearly eight feet and half Still
| hadn't any great fear, for / supposed
when come to put my hands OH him,
| nnu11 o0cilvy tokn him oiF fnV I xEoc ,roffr-
strong in the arms In few seconds hc
had his body all clear, and it was then
that the first real thrill shot through me.
There he held himself by the simple turn
around my leg, and with his back archcd
in and out, he brought his head on level
with mine. made grab for him, but
missed him; and then as quick as you
can snap your finger, he swept his head
around under my arm, clear around my
body, and then Straightcncd up and look
ed me in the face again. made another
grab at him, and another, aS quickly as
could, but he lodged me in spite of all
that l could do.
next felt the snakes body working
its way up. The turn of the tail was
changed to my thigh, and the coil around
my stomach began to tighten. About
this time began to think that there
might be some serious work, and the
quicker ! took the snake OIL the better
SO just graSpcd him near the head as
possible, by taking hold where he was
around me-for he couldn't dodge that
part, you know-and tried to turn him
Off But this only made it worse The
fellow had now drawn himself up so high
,,,l tol l., 4 Il
another turn around me- His tail was
now under my left thigh, and the rest of
him turned twice around my body--one
of the coils being just at the pit Of my
stomach, and the other one above it
All this had occupied just about half
minute from the time he got the turn first
around my leg
His head was now right around in front
Of my face, and he tried tomake his way
to my mouth What his intention was
| cannot tell, though have always be-
licved that he thought he could stranglc
me in that way. lie struck me one blow
in the mouth that hurt mc considerably,
but after that got him by the neck and
there | meant to hold him-at least, so
that he could not strike me again. The
moment graspcd the snake by the neck. |
he commenced to tighten his folds about
my body soon discoycrcrl that he'd
squeeze the breath out of me in that way,
and determined to unwind him. He
was wound in this way: the turn around
the thigh was from left to right-thcn up
between my legs to my right side, and
around my back to my left sidc-and so
on with the second turn, thus bringing
his head up from under my arm. had
the snake now with the left hand, and
my idea was to put his head around my
back until could reach it with my 6ight
aud so unwind him. could press the
fellows head down under my arm, but to
get it around SO as to reach it with my
right hand, l could not. tricd-I put
all my power into that one arm, but !
could not
Until this moment had not really been
frightened. ] had believed could un.
wind the serpent when tried. I never
dreamed what power he had. tried it
until knew could not do it, and then
gave it up. My next thought was of lily
jack-knitc; but the lower coil of the snake
was directly over my pocket, and could
not get at it. now for the first time
called out for help. yelled with all my
might; aud yet knew the trial was next |
to useless, for no one could easily gain the
place where | was, except with a boat.
Ihk.A III