Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-07-29
THE GREAT TENNESSEE SNAKE

31A 1iIU NE; 1tuIs, q uaJs III 91tOVC
tra NY letters to you on the subject of the
Hbig .snake," seem to ohayeg excited mprs
attentionathan H. dreamed of and [ an
sorry that / wrote att aHy especially as SC
many express doubts oas to the correctness
fofa my statementsd tEyeni you, yourself
seem to think i am onlyFtrgipgaihe gull
Iability of the public! LI1awould mot no"
come to you again. even with assworn
Ilstatement,l did I3not arhaVe proof that " Il
ieenvinee othe mestlLskcptlcal, alb burles-
quesand observation-disclosures to the con-
Iitrary Notwithstanding Truth Is strang-
erJ than felton, fila lmangonly be.
Illeves what he sees, ,eslloWf little of history
would he,,reeordeda agm Is 1l5ia yqa
Is But I am even able to- ofery tesa doubt
ing public, that proof, ,namelyG:i The mon
aa aropr0 a2erso1tu % tor we
have him 1.-the flerpsnakeethat has created
such an5uproarsa However, .dIf9wlll pro-
lceed with my narrative, and giyeyon a
plan, unyafnlshed statement of facts .l..
botsI wrote you5 on the SthI instant, that
the serpent had broken the box and clear
ed for the woods. 5U This created great
deal OF. CONSERVATION in the community,
and all lay low until toward evening" swhen
the neighbors got together and devised
some means to put an end to- him. Ion a
close examination of. the bo2alt was dis
covered they had put a defective plank
in it., it beiug windshaken from one end
to the other, and thus, when the captive
began to surge, he soon started this plank,
and was then able to break out. The
yhole in the ground was now securely stop
ped, and every one present determined to
make it their business to hunt him up
and destroy him. They felt it necessary
for their safety. Stroug bands well arm
ed went together and secured the woods,
beat the qthickets5 and searched closely
everywhere untilthey zbeganito dispair Of
success But, when they least5ll looked
for-it, fortune smiled upon their efforts
Some mile and a half or two lmilesffroln
the den live Mr. Isaac Nelly aud a; Mr.
Irvine, CLOSE noig ghbors. 81 X esterday morn.
ing Mro Nelly walked over to- Mr.. Hvine's
carrying with him his gun, an Enfield
rifeao Finding -Mr.i IrHineUin his field,
nesrly at theltop of the hill, at work, he
calledato him, and Mr.. b aIryine and he
seated themselves on the fence, with
their guns dor .nosman now went without
one) near them Z Mn. Irvlne's was com
mon squirrel barife.od They ahad talked
some, time here whom they became aware
of a peculiarly musky odor ipervading the
air. They had felt it at first bntlit did
notexeite their attention suutiiit became
sickening inJits power. Mr.. Nelly looked
around unconsclously, to see what. could
produce it, and there, within sixty yards
of them, and just above, clay the serpent,
the object of their. dread 2HI heirsfirst I'M
pulse was to run, but after itheyshad in
voluntarily jumped from the feace they
thought better of it, andy likettruei men,
as they are. they determined to ire>on it.
They laid. their guns carefully on the
fence, the snake never moving, and tax
ing deliberate aim, fired at his head. At
the cracking of the guns an awful crash
ing. and slashing was heard and Believing
the creature was upon them, they threw
away their guns aud fed for dear life,
nor did they stop until they reached the
house: q r 3<.l- s'f.if.s2 @sf- II =
The country was quickly alarmed, and
after a good deal of careful efHEreconnoitering,
the spot was approached, to find Che SER
pent gone, but leaving behind him such
a great trail Of blood they knew he was
badly wounded Without. difficulty they
followed his trail, and did anot proceed
more than two hundred yards down be-
side the fence before they espied him;
perfectly limp and dead But it took
several shots from distance to convince
them of this before they dared approach.
= The struggle where the monster was
shot must have been terrific, for large
bushes wee bent to the earth, and the
ground was torn up, where he had lashed
it with his tail. Great credit is due to
the intrepedity Of the gentlemen who shot
him, for few would have dared it. Il 90
aa'M Mr. Irvine quickly brought a pair of
mules to drag him off, but when the
mules caught sight of the huge animal
they became so frightened nothing could
hold them, and they broke and tore away
like mad By this time great many
people had collected, and they tied a
chain aronnd his neck with running
moose, and dragged him through the field
to the big road. They now found acou-
pie of strong horses gentle enough, and
they with these determined to carry him
to Nolensville, it being the nearest point
on the pike. Hearing of these ciicum-
stance, Iy,in= company with Mr.. Ben.
johnson, of this place, started for the
scene of action. When near Mr.. Bit
tocks' we met with Esquire Greene so.
ling to the same point. We had not gone
far before we hove in sight, and here we
met, with very, serious accident, for nc
sooner had our horses causht sight OF the
huge body of the ,serpent than they be
gan to plunge at. such a fearful rate as t.
: tbro1u @of Mr. tObnSOn 9flf