Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-10-19
MEMPHIS TENNESSEE SATURDAY EVENING OCTOBER 49, 1867

Allen, short distance from the Warren
county line, and in the vicinity Of An
thongs Mill. The heatrending details,
as related to us by persons Of unquestion'
able veracity, are about these Some
two months since Mrs. Blankenship, a
lady Of respectability, lost her husband
from disease, and was left with three
children, two interesting boys and a
little infant girl just large enough TO
walk alone and beguile the lonely hours
of the mother with its innocent prattle.
On the 10th ult, the mother, Mrs. Blank
enship, for the purpose of washing
clothes, repaired to the spring branch
near the house, in the locality referred
to, taking her three children with her, the
house dog following behind. She had
been engaged in washing but short
time when the dog was heard barking
necessarily on the hill near by. Think.
ing that the dog had possibly treed a
raccoon or had rabbit at bay, the two
little boys proposed going at once to
secure the game. With the mother S
consent the little fellows started off in
high glee. Alas better had they never
been born. On reaching the spot where
the dog was barking they saw short
distance from the dog large object
coiled at the foot of stump, in hostile
attitude, keeping the dog at bay. They
looked but moment Eager only to
capture the supposed game, and not
thinking of danger, nor knowing the
nature Of the prey, they approached the
hideous monster that in fatality Of attack
outvenoms all the worms of Nile. "
The oldest of the two boys approached
first, with his little hands outstretched
and his face aglow at the prospect of his
prize, he said "Tll get him, brother. p"
One step more and he rushed to death
more terrible and speedy than we're the
tortures of tabled Lascoon. With one
dart of his forked tongue, with one death
rattle of his tail, the huge rattlesnake-
for it was nothing less-drew back his
scaly folds, and with one dart forward
planted his envenomed fangs in the flesh
of the boy, and left the deadly poison
coursing hot through his young veins.
Again and again was the boy bitten by
the fatal reptile till he fell exhausted in
the coils of the monster.
The other little fellow rushed forward
to the relief of his little brother, and he
also received the deadly fangs of the
serpent in several places. The screams
of the boys alarmed the mother, who was
still washing at the branch, and leaving
her baby girl she ran lrsntically to the
spot. What sight there met her gaze
Putrid with poison, swollen and black,
and bitten in many places, one of her
boys was already dead and the other
dying from the same cause. The snake
had crawled away, and the living boy
lived just long enough to tell the circum-
stance of their death. Overwhelmed
with an intensity of agony which moth.
ers alone can feel, she remained at the
fatal spot short time, when she be-
thought of her little girl at the branch
and hurried back.
On reaching the spot, horrible as il
may seem, she found that the little girl
had walked to the washtub, into which
she had fallen headforemost and was
drowned, and it, too, was gone" The
mothers cup of misery was full; not
anotherdrop could be added. Bereft OF
children, and almost of reason, she sank
under tho accumulated horrors of the
hour. Assistance was procured, the
heart-crushed woman and the remains
of her nestlings were taken charge OF
and cared for. A short time after a
large rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, was
killed near the spot where the boys were
bitten, ,-BoUling Green (Ky.) Demo
Graf, Oct, 8.