Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-10-29

Two Children Bitten by q huttlosnako,
and n Third Drowned In tho same Hour.
From the Bowling Green (Ky.) Dem.,. Oct. oth.]
Never in our experience as journalists
has 1t been our duty to record an occur
renee moro horrid in its details than the
one we are about to relate.
The sad affair that left a widowed
mother childless, for the time being al
most bereft of reason, happened about
the 10th ultimo, in the adjoining county
of Allen a short distance from the
ty line, and in the vicinity of Anthony's
mill. The h~eartrending details, as re-
lated to US by persons of unquestionable
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 q little infant
girl, Just large enough to walk alone
and beguile the lonely hours OF Its
mother with its innocent prattle. On
the 10th ultimo 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 a
short time when the dog was heard
barking necessarily on the hill near by.
Thinking that the dog had possibly
freed a raccoon or had u rabbit at bay,
the two little boys proposed going at
once to secure the game. With the
mothers consent the little follows start.
ed off in high glee. Alas better had
they never been born. On reaching the
spot where the dog was barking, they
saw at q short distance from the dog q
large object coiled at the foot ofa stump,
in a hostile attitude, keeping the dog at
bay. They looked but a 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 at
tack %outvenoms all the worms Of
Nile.n The oldest of the two boys up
preached first, with his little hands out
stretched and his face aglow at the
prospect Of his prize he said, "lll get
him, brother" One step more, and he
rushed to o death more terrible and
| speedy than were the fortunes Of tabled
LAGOON. With one dart Of his forked
tongue, with one death-rattle Of his tail,
the huge rattlesnake-for it was moth
ing less-drew back his scaly folds, and
with ono dart forward planted Ahis en-
venomed fangs in the flesh of the boy
and lett 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 revived 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 frantically
to the spot. What n sight there met
her gael 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 circumstances of their death. Over
whelmed with an intensity Of agony
which mothers alone can feel, she re-
manned at the fatal spot a short time,
when she bethought her of her little
girl at the branch and hurried back.
On reaching the spot, horrible as it
may seem, she found that her little girl
had walked to the wash-tub, into which
she had fallen head foremost and was
drowned, sand it too was gone" The
mothers cup of misery was full; not
another drop could be added. Bereft
Of children, and almost Of reason, she
sank under the 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.
The event created q profound sensa-
ton in the community, and has scarcely
o parallel aver in the exciting annals oil
our early and hardy pioneers.