Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-10-19
HORRIBLE OCCURRENCE.

Never in our experience as journalists has 1t
haan our duty to chronicle an occurrence more
horriI in its details than the one we are about
torelate.
The sad affair that left widowed mother
childless, and for the time being almost berelt
n reason, happened about the 10th ult., in
tbe adjoining county OF Allen, short distance
t,nm the Warren county line, aud in the vicin-
;iv W Of Anthony's Mill The heart-1endipg
details, as related to US by persons OF unqucs-
liopabe yeracity, are about these: Some two
months since Mrs Blankenship, lady Of re-
sDectability, lost her husband from disease, and
was left with three children, two interesting
bows and 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. Blankenship, for
the purpose Of washing clothes repaired to the
spring branch near the house in the locality
referred to, taking her children with her; the
house dog following behind. She had been
engaged in washing but short time when the
dog was heard barking incessantly on the hill
near by. Thinking that the dog had possibly
freed racoon or had a rabbit at bay, the two
little boys proposed going at once to secure the
game. With the mothers consent the little
fellows started off in high glce., Alas better
had they never been born. On reaching the
spot where the dog was barking they saw a
short distance from the dog, large object
coi!ed at the foot of stump, in . hostile atti-
tude, keeping the dog at bay. They looked
but moment. Eager only to ocapture the sup
posed game, and not thinking OF danger, nor
knowing the nature OF the prey, they ap-
preached the hideous monster that In fatality
IL ~ lo
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, 'Ill
get him, brother" One step more and he
rushed to death more terrible and speedy
than were the tortures Of tabled LAGOON
With one dart of his iorked tongue, with one
death-ratte 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 ofthe boy, and
left the deadly poison courslng hot through his
Young veins. Again and again was the boy
bitten by the fatal reptile till he fell exhausted
10 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 frantically to
the spot. What sight there met her gaze
Putrd with poison, swollen and black, and
bitten in many places, one of her boys was al
ready 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 Overwhelmed
With an intensity of agony which mothers alone
can feel, she remained at the fatal spot short
time, wi hen she thought of her little girl at
the branch are hurried back.
Onreaching the spot, horrible as it may seem,
she found that the little girl had walked to the
washtub, into which she had fallen head
foremost and and was drowned, 'and it too was
goneo 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. Asss
lance 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 a profound sensation in
the community, and has scarcely parallel
even in the exciting annals of our early and
hardy pioneers. Bo1oling Green (Kentucky)
I)fmncr1f