The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-04-18
Dan and the Moccasin Snakes.

=
Dan and the MOCCasin Snakes.
Dan Clary was brother of Mrs. Mac
laughlin's, and took up his residence
with that lady and her husband. Dan
was fine, hearty, stout young fellow,
of about twenty years of age brave as a
lion to face danger, but terribly afraid
Of snakes and Indians. Of the latter he
had read SO much that he was some
time making up his mind to leave his
dear old "Green Isle of the Sea" to
come out to this wild country, especially
as Mrs. Mac had casually mentioned in
some of her letters that there were In
dians in the neighborbood where she
lived, and that they sometimes paid visits
to her house. Dan looked on the whole
fraternity of red men Us barbarous saw
ages, always spoke Of them as Bloody
Injuns, and shall never. forget the day
when took him over to the encampment
on Buffalo lake and introduced him to
the tribe.
It was about month after his arrival,
in the latter part OF August, that l
stopped at Macs one morning and asked
Dan to 60 over to the lake with me and
catch some bass. He assented at once,
and we started off together. I always
took my gun when 1 went to the lake,
for was sure to find some prairie chick
ems, and now and then would shoot
duck. Dan was in high spirits this
,,,1 o,,,,,caI Will, hic Tr,. Il,
wit. He was firm believer in banshees
and ghosts, and could tell more ghost
stories than his sister, and she was ahead
of anybody l had ever heard before. On
our way to. the lake shot a snake, and
as Dan had never seen one took it Cn
stick and let him have good view of
it, but the poor fellows nerves were 50
highly strung that his strong irume
shook as though he had the ague, and
dropped the monster, andwe continued
on.
81 wouldn't handle that thing like
you did, sir, for mint o money. Deed,
but I'm afeard of 'em-we have no such
things at home, and that was one Of the
reasons Of my not comm out to America
before, them and the bloody skelp:n
Tnjuns. Will we see eny Of them chaps
to-day?"
."WeYl see some, no doubt" l replied;
but they won't hurt you; / visit them
often, and they know me-"
"You don't go all alone by yourself,
do ye?"~Ss . -
eyes; I've slept all night in one oI
their wigwams.
"In what ?" said Dan.
"In wigwam.
"Howly Moses; an what's that? l
never heerd O the like. What's that We
call it-a wan what?'
ga wigwam-an Indians house or
hut.
"Well well. But there's some
mighty quare things in America, but 1
never heerd house called wam-wum.
No, that's not it, say it again"
"a wigwam," said I.
eyes, that's it-but I'm blest if can
say it. An did you sleep in one O them
wani things, and was there 10 snakes
about"
eff there were, l didn't see them"
"How nigh were We ever to one O
them moccasin snakes that me sister
talks 50 much about? N.Y. but she's
Altered of them. I believe it's tine only
thing she is Altered Of"
SWELL, I was near enough to moe
.casin once, nearer than ever wish to be
again. had my hand on him."
"Oh bloody murder, an he didn't
kill you-sure it was a meracle.y your life
was spared. Tell us about it, an I'll
kape lookout along as we 60 for fear
some O them might be followin' US" 49,
"About three weeks ago John and I
were smoking our pipes one evening
about seven o'clock, and I was leaning
against rickety old table that stood on
the outside of his cabis, and upon
which there were three boxes filed with
earth, and had a geranium growing in
them; leaned pretty hard against the
table, and it broke down aud the boxes
fell over on the ground, and large moe
casin snake crept out of one Of them,
and before we could reach him he got
between the logs and into the house,
: Just on the side where my belstead
stood"
i ."Howly Father wasn't you scared %
said Dan.
"I didn't like the idea of sleeping in
that room with the snake, SO John and
went into the house to hunt him out"
"You wouldn't O kctched me in that
house for the best farm in the State
Begorra, I'd a moved al. left the snake
in full possession !" said Dan.
cit was much darker in the house
than it was ont of doors, but light
enough to distinguish objects in the
room and upon the floor, and ] was
STOPPING down, looking under the bed
for the snake-I was looking for some
thing that did not want to find"
81 should think So" said Dan.
"There was q lot Of old trunpery
there, such as bandboxes, worn-out har-
ness, and old boots, and my attention
was rather diverted from the snake
while moving these old traps about,
when / saw a strip of what / took to be
rolled leather, and said to John: Here
isa first-rate lash for your whip, at the
same time drawing it out from under the
bed; when to my surprise and horror, I
found that I had the snake-holding him
by the extreme end of his tall"
"Oh, murther !" said Dan, can didn't
he bite you?" 81 n
GAS I raised him clear OF the floor, he
seemed to be nearly three feet long, and
his ugly head was twisting in every di-
rection, so as to get a chance to bite me.
I knew if let 60 OF him he would bite
+, me, and his bite was certain death, as
~ there wasn't doctor nearer than Fort
Winnebago-seventeen miles distant
and just what to do I didn't know. I
recollected that we used to catch water
snakes in the bitches down in the neck.