Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-04
Mathematics in Arizona.
OLD HANK PuIsIFBRs Pnopl5IoUs STORY OF HIS
EXPLOITS.

EXPLOITS.
!Cc.respondencs N. Y. Fun
hARECofA WALLS, Sepo iS-il travelling
through ArE0ra one IS pJuod 10 see snakes Ia
his BOOTS. / don't mean whisky snakes, bat
real snakes. Not that Arizona wniskey Is lack
ing In serpeut-evoking potency. / took four
drinks one evening in June, AFTER q long and
uiesome day Ia the saddle; aud saw China
man poking le1foot ratt,esnake at me all
night. Imagine II you can what genuine case
OF tremens must be with Arizona whisky for d
foundation
Rattlesnakes are plenty In Arizona. They
reach their greatest age here, and are more saw
age than elsewhere. The Arizona rattleSnake
is ripe for fight as soon as he espies anything
In the shape OF man. Not rafting and then
sneaking of, like his nameSake in some of the
colder ATTITUDES, but with head erect and eyes
blazing fury and defiance, he coils and springs
at hts enemy. These SriZona snakes are eSpe-
c1ally fierce when met In the road never yield
Ing the right of way until they are killed. They
vary in color. One sort is almost black, with
yellow spots from head to tail: another Is
tawny yellow; and still another is the color of
the country rock. From June to September the
thermometer on the plains averages from ll0o
to 1909 through the day, and often as high as
1852 at night Snakes do not move much through
the day IN these months, preferring to ensconce
themselves under the friendly shade of a pro-
ject1ng rock Or an occasional bit OF sage brush.
and await the going down OF the sun. Then
they come out and stretch themselves in the
cool dust OF the highways. This is a very dan
gerous coun Try for travellers at night. Horses
are frequently bitten on the legs, and die in
agony. There lives are sometimes saved, but
UOU OIl6Q. IHeTe are DO euQ OF raUCleSnako
stories eXtant in Arizona. Some of them are
true.
A few weeks ago I saw Mexican Of thirty
years residence in Arizona. My notice was at
tracted to him by large lump or bag of flesh
hanging from his face. inquired about it, lie
had been captured by lot OF Apache Indians
and his wellknit frame, and desired to keep him
In the tribe, having previously put 1t out Of his
power to return home by massacreing his par
ents and burning the house; so they took him
into the mountains, where there was no danger
of pursuit. There they caused a rattleSnake to
bite him on the left cheek. They permitted the
poison to take effect to certain extent; then
they applied an antidote and saved his life.
But he has ever since carried about this IN
slightly reminder of his strange experience.
Nowadays the Apaches are safely corraled
On government reservations, and the rattle
snake is left to his own playful ranc1es. They
generally know If any one is around, and make
their own presence known. In some parts OF
the territory they are SO fierce that they will
attack man on horseback If he comes within
striking. distance. Tom Ewing of San Fran
cisco, who erected several quartz mills in Ari-
iona, was driving along one day when his pro-
gress was barred at an abrupt turn by mon
ster rattlesnake His horse became panic
to turn around and seek assistance at the near
est station. Several men came out with shot
guns, and after fight, which came near prov
Ing fatal to one of them, the venomouS reptile
was killed. II stretched clear across the road,
a distance of IA feet 8 inches. Judging from
the number OF rattles, his age could not have
been less than AZ years. / do not vouch for this
story, but there are meh in Arizona who claim
to have seen the snake AFTER he was killed.
1t is one OF the traditions OF the territory.
Snakes from 5 to feet In length are not at all
uncommon. l was riding along through Salt
River valley at the close of terribly hot day Ia
July, when came upon an oasis In the wilder
ness, the home of settler named Marks. 1t
had been so hot all day that no work could be
done out OF doors, and it was only few min
utes before my appearance that an Indian boy
in Markss employ had gone to the upper end
OF small vegetable garden to do some neceS-
sary chores. He had been there but moment
when he cried out in alarm in the Indian tongue,
"a snake! snake!' and jumped upon shelly
ing rock hard by. Marks grabbed his shotgun
and ran through the garden just In time to see
an immense rattlesnake preparing to strike the
boy. He jumped to one side and fired, blowing
the snakes head Off and saving the boys life
This snake measured feet and inch, and was
as big as mans leg.
But the best snake story is told by Hank Pull
sifer, known otherwise as "Rattler Hank" on
account Of his thousand and one adventures
times, and attributes his continued existence to
the fact that he always packs plenty of whisky
with him. He has killed l 400 rattlesnakes in
the last two years. to say nothing of the hun
dredS he had got away with before that time,
and OF which he never kept record. 1t is the
old mans delight to bask In the smiles OF his
when he is not out prospecting the neighboring
hills for gold or silver, sitting in Bill Brigg
cabin. comfortably loaded with tanglefoot and
his We was IN Florence
| badly fuddled he tells his biggest yarns. 1t
was my good fortune to hear one of them
Boys" he asked, "did you see that Greaser In
town yesterday with the tarantulas? reckon
you amt seen no bigger tarantulas than them
critters. | give 'em to him; ketched em out
near the Alyarado mine; they was havln' party
like with hull bilin' o. rattlers. l never seed
no such rattlers yet. Hank was leading up to
his story. One who knew him well at once
ordered the benzine for the crowd.l aim seed
no such rattlers as them, " he continued. setting
down bis empty glass. "There was forty hun
dred If there was one, and rang1n' all the way
from TWO to ten foot in length And such az
all fired hissin' and wrigglin' and bow1n' and
a scrapip' to one mother as polite as you please
and Mr. Shake crawln' around Mrs. Snake and
the young snakes tumbling' over their daddIes
and mammies till you couldn't rest. What did
do? reckon l kinder didn't do nothin' but
| keep shady. But blasted jack rabbit run
across the bush Just behind me, an bein' kind
| the gun goin' Off started the snakes, and they
saw me quicker n second, an jess stood on
There war pile o. rocks hemmin' me In on
| all sides cept one. had jest come over them
| rocks slld1n' down, but couldn't get back
through the And there Was forsy hgn
| dred OF 'em as sure as =. They saw they had
| me, and had already divided me up like, an
stckn out and the sweat @ m'I Of ny EYES e
| rain, an they KEEP comm an openin' their
Jaws an lchn O. their chops as much as to
say 0e man. yer f our a meat We'll yanked
over their surprise I'd drunk all the bug juice
| In my canteen an made break. More'n five
hundred of 'em must struck me as skinned
| through the gantlet. But had par O. buck
| skin breeches over my butternuts, an the -
| fools couldn't bite through. So hoofed it over
! the perrar1e for more'n half mile, cos didn't
| d'ar to stop second or they would got loose
| an stuck me on the hand. AS it was they KEEP
| stringin' out behind me like so many tails.
| But you couldn' seen 'em for the dust. You
hear mel"
| Hanks listeners were setting in open mouthed
wonder, taking in the story as he spun it out,
and they were eagerly awaiting the climax.
| Sagebrush Charlie spoke up: "Look yere,
Hank, you say there was five hundred snakes
h1tched on to your br1tches? %
Eyes, five hundred; nary one less'
"Well, how much you reckoned each critter
would average-about three pounds, l reckon?"
"W-a-llv
"Why, on'y this; you war packin' fifteen hun
| dred pounds Of snakes. Perhaps you will take
| a tumble to yourself and kinder explain how
you could pack so many critters"
"Look here, Charlie; you're pretty squar
| kind of boy, and poorly good on fggers and
ar1thmetick1n, an that kind o. truck an don't
mind sayin' to you that fifteen hundred pounds
o. snakes tackled onto man when he Is Scarf
when he is right down scar't-don't weigh
more n an ordinary shotgun. You might stop
| to weigh em. didn't have no ttme.'
Charlie was effectually silenced.
"Wall, as was q saving bOVSn Hank cOn-