Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-03-22
RATTLESNAKES.
The Terrible Adventure of SCHOOLGIRL
in the Mountains,

IN the mountains.
[From the Reading Eage]
A young lady in this city has received
the following letter from her friend who
is at boarding school, giving a thrilling
account OF her adventure with a huge
rattlesnake:
Three weeks ago yesterday after
noon two young ladies beside myself,
who had gone out in walking party
with one of the teachers at the school
in this place, strolled off from the rest
Of the party, and, losing our way, were
unable for some time to tell where we
were, as the woods and underwood were
so thick that the further we penetrated
into it the more difficult our passage be-
came. We wandered to and fro for
long time until almost overcome with
fatigue, when we sat down on huge
boulder to recover our lost strength.
Looking at our watches we found that
we had been on the mountain nearly
six hours, and felt hungry, distressed,
and tired. 1t was about 5 o'clock in the
afternoon, and twilight was fast ap-
preaching oh, but for something to
eat, my companion said, and then we
could struggle on and try to find the
school again She appeared to be the
picture of despair We were sitting
some feet from the ground, alongside a
huge oak tree, and presently | felt
something moving on my neck. placed
my hand to my neck to remove it, when
horrible to relate, | grasped something
round and soft which Kissed like an ad-
der. | tried to pull it from me, but it
wriggled and squirmed, and my compan-
ion-seelng the monster on my body,
shrieked and screamed and almost faint
ed. just at that moment the head made
a dart at my breast, with mouth wide
open and tongue elongated, and kissing
a death-like and horrible sound. My
left hand was about six inches from its
head, and, in order to prevent being bit
ten, | grasped it right behind the eyes
with my right hand. Holding it in this
way for several seconds, my companion
shrieked to me to throw the snake from
me. | tried to do so, but was powerless,
being, as it seemed to me, transfxed or
charmed to the spot by the horrid eyes
of the monster. Itried to talk, but my
jaws would not open, and my tongue ap-
peared stiff | felt the cold sweat trick
ling down my back, and large drops of
perspiration stood on my forehead My
face was as white as the driven snow,
and | could neither move nor talk, but
seemed to be as stiff as post 1t makes
me shudder as | write. to think of the
stare of the reptile. Annie, my COM
panion, seeing my dangerous situation,
screamed for help. She seems to have
been bereft of reason, for instead Of
coming to my assistance she started to
run away. Trying to turn my head to
see whether she had gone, the eyes of
the snake were also directed in the
direction in which Annie was screaming.
From that moment the snakes spell on
me was broken, and with all my might [
hurled it from me. No sooner had the
snake landed on the ground, than | ran
with the fleetness of a deer, fearing that
it would overtake me. Judge of my
feelings when, almost out of BREATH
and ready to sink to the earth from
sheer exhaustion, | turned around and
saw snake with three others several
PAGES from me in hot pursuit. | re-
membered that snakes were afraid of
anything red Fortunately having on Il
red skirt, | Immediately exposed it to
the reptiles view, and they at once
stopped the pursuit. | advanced to-
ward them, shaking my red skirt and
they rctreatcd. | gathered up stones
and threw at them, and killed the lar
gest one, and the others escaped thro'
the rocks. just at this moment a dep
utation from the school, who had been
in search of us, came up. The large
snake that had coiled itself around my
neck was found by the escort, and it
measured nine feet and four inches"