Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1857-10-23

where tney were Puusoi pEaS last' aa
could; and got voutiand waded up. III
knewlyery near where one of the ducks
had fallenI and very, soon had my eyes on
it, ASH ran. up to.take itI saw the head
of a black snake pop out and catch it by
the wing iIssaw only the head,and neck
oftthe reptile! and had no. ideas how large
a one . IT, was; oraiy Ishadib probably
hould have done just as i did, afol5 / had
no idea of fearing such a. thing, Il had
left my igunrin the boat.sapd had nothing
to killthe chaprwitb;a but Z as 4 took; the
duck II just put myafoet upon theathief's
ID The ground wasamoist and Islimy, and
the snake had his body yabraced among the
roots of the stout reeds;&he took his head
out from under my foot about as quick
as man could comfortably think nj
thought I'D run back to. my boat lanIl get
my gun, and Try to kill Iithis fellow; and l
had Just turned iior that purpose, when !
felt something strike. my leg, as though
somebody had thrown aaroPe around II.
1 looked. down. and found jthsf fsp axe had
taken a turn around my left leg with his
Tail, and was in the act of clearing his
body ,fromsthe grass. dropped tue duck
and gave q, smart kick, but that didn't
loosen him; so i tIed to. put my right
foot upon him, and, thus dra@5mY left leg
away; L might as well have tried tobput
my foot. on a streak oflightninglu.as Iaw
land hadntLl been deceiyed?l ll had for
gotten the .proportionate size cofbthe head
ofhthis1species Of black isnake.5G Lhad exE
pectedi TO see "a snake four5tor d FIVE feet
long; but instead Of that he WAS .seagly
eig6tfeet and a half! Still. Ihadna' tyet
any gfeat fear, for L supposednthst, hen
I.put my hands on him i could easily
shake him of, fort Il was spretty.lstroDgii
the arms. In a few, seconds he had his
bodytall clear, and ita was thennthatllhe
first realithrhl shotethrough me. iaThere
he hadaheld 5himselfab bysthe simpleL sturn
around my eg.dands with bis back arched
in and1outy yshelthen broGght his head just
on level with mine. 1smade asgrab, for
him but missedaand then asiquick as you
cam snap your 6nger,'he] swept his head
under'my arm, clear around my. body,
and nestfaightenediupoan dooked me
in the edace again idvgaveD another grab
at him. .yand anothergas quick as.I .couldi
but: he !dod ged meiuin spiteiof alliIlcoula
do. 41sr ta 9Fll SUI IN .E ,grGsse tiau
'Iinext felt the-shake's. body working it's
way up The turneof. the tail was turned
tony thigh, and the coilSaround my
stomach commemorate tighten. About
this time Iabegan to think there mightgbe
some serious work, hando the quicker
took the snakeSoffi Nthe better Soil just
grasped him as near5the head as possible,
by taking hold where he was around'me,
and tried TO turn him off. BUTT thisfonly
made it worse The fellow :bado'now
drawn hitnselfsup'so high, and stretched
So; that he took another turn around! me.
His"t was now around my ,left:thigh,
and the rest Of him turned twice around
my body. one Of them being just at. the
pit of my stomach, and the other bne
above it. IAN this had occupied Just
aboutone half minute from the time he
first gothic turn round my leg. y7h'"'7
The snake now had his head in front
of:my face, and tried to make his way in
10 my mouth. What his intention wasi
cannot surely tell. though have al
ways believed that he knew he could
strahgle me in thatway. He struck me
one blow on the mouth that hurt me con.
siderabIy; and after that / got him blythe
neck, and there meantt to hold him-at
IeasG so thathe could not strike me
again. But this time another difficulty
arose! Tie moment grasped the snake
by the neck. he commenced to tighten his
folds around my body! 1t wasn't over a
few seconds before discovered that he'd
soon squeeze the breath out OF me in tha
way, and determined to unwind him
He was in this way: the turn around the
thigh was from leftlto right; then up be-
tween the legs to my right side, and
around the back TO my left side. and SC
on with the second turn. thus bringing
his head up under my arm. aI'hed the
snake now with my LEFT hand, and my
idea was to pass his head around my
back till could it with my right,
and SO unwind him.. l could press 1.-The
/ fellows head under my arm, but TO get
it around so asJ o reach. it with my right
hand, 1 could not t! tried; put all my
power into chat arm; fbut,I could not do
il. could get1lhe head just about un-
der nv al mpit; but here my strength was
applied to! disadvantage. Till tiis mo-
ment had not been really frightened j
believed I could unwind the Tserpenl
when i tried: 1 never. dreamed, what
power they had. Why. only think, a:
strong as;l was then. and could not put
that snakes head around my bsckL j
tried till lLIckuew Idcquld not do it. and
then gave itanpg Ny next thought, was
ofmyIj Ijackaknifes but the lower.cOA Of the
snakeIwas directly over my pocket, and
Ilcould not get isai nd .sa3ii3ea sasos 3.
.I.now for abe first time called out ful
help. iii yelled,rwith all my might, anc
yet L. knew that4theitrialawa nextto use
! less y iora noaone could easily gain II The
placeI beteI 7was,e except with az boat
Yet I called :out hoping geagaips4 rhepesidl
] : > u. Al. Il l.