The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-10-04
"A RATTLESNAKE YARN.
Old Hank Pulsifer's -Prodigious
Story Of His Exploits.
Tom Ewing's Adventure With a
Monster Blowing OFF Serpent's
Headiand Saving Life Sage
brush Charleys In
credulity
IN. Y. SUM- Y

fin hla boots. | don't mean whisky snakes
but real sriakes. Not that Arizona whisky II
lacking in serpent-syoklng potency. ! tool
four drinks one evening In June, after q Ions
md tiresome day Ia the saddle. and saw {
Ghinaman poking q ono thunderstorm rattle
snake ut me oil night Imagine If you can
what d genuine case Or tremens must DO witt
Arizona whisky for u fonndatiou
RattIesnakas are plenty In Arizona. They
reach their greatest aye here, and are more
savage than elsewhere. The Arizona rattle
snake ;a ripe for u fight as coon as he espies
anything lii tho shapaof d mHn. Not rattling
Aud then snaakug 0fY, like his nafuasake IL
some III the colder latitudes, but with head
erect and eyes blazing fury and defiance, he
coils and springs at his enemy. These Ari2D-
lla snakes arc especially fierce when met II
Che. .road. never yielding the right Of way
until they are killed. They vary til color
Dne sort is almost black, with yellow spots
from head to tail: another ID q tawny yell
low. and still another liz the color Of a cpufl-
thy rock. From June 10 September the Their
Mtprnet6r On the plains averages ffonl 1t0o to
1902 through the day, md often as high as
1i6o ut night Snakes do not move much
Through the day Ill these months, preferring
tn e,iseoice themselves under tho friendly
shade ut a projecting rock Or an occasional bit
of sage brush, aud await the going down Or
tho sun. Then they come out and stretch
themselves III Ina COOL uuSb Oh tne highways.
Tnls Ia n very dangerous country for travellers
at night. Horses are frequently bitten On the
legs and dis In agony. Tnelr lives are some-
times saved. but not often. There are no end
of rnttlesnaks stories eztant In Arizona.
Some vi them are true.
"A few weeks ago saw a Mexican of thirty
years residence IN Arizona. My notice was
attracted to him by large lump Or bag Of
Mesh hanging from bis face. inquired about
It, Ha hal been captured by lut OF Apacha
ID hay fu jnd F.,.
his beauty and his well-knit frame. ani do
sired 10 keep hn In the tribe, having pre-
viotisly put 1T out OF his power to return home
BY massaoreiug bis parents and burning the
house: 30 they took hin into the mountains,
where there was no danger OF pursuit. There
they caused u rattesnake To bite him on the
left chesk.. They permitted the poison to
take effect tO certain extent; then they APP
piled ALI antidute and saved his life. But he
has ever since carried about this unsightly
reminder of his strange experience.
Nowadays the ApAches are safely cDrraled
ON government reservations, and the rattle
snake IL LETT to his own playful fanciss They
generally know II any one Is around. aud
make their own presence known. In some
parts OF the Territory they are go fierce that
they Will attack q man Oh horseback, II he |
comes within striking distanee. Tom II wing, |
'pf pun Francisco, who erected several quartz !
mills IN Arizona, vas driving along one day I
when his progress was barred at IN abrupt
turn by q monster rattleHnake. His horse be- |
came panic stricken. aud as he was lnarmed |
he wAs forced to turn around and seek assist
ArCe at the nearest station. Several men |
came out with shot-guns and after fight,
which cama near proving fatal to one OF them,
thu veilomous reptile was killed. IL stretched
snlear across The road, d distance OF fourteen |
feet three inches. Judging from the number !
pf rattles, bis age could not have been less |
n " forty,two years. ! do Dgt .voueh for
tnis story, but there are men LII Arizona who /
claim to nave seen the snaae alter he was /
killed. It's oneof the traditions Of the Terri
tory.
Snakes from five to eight feet In length are
not iii Hi uncommon. | was riding along
terribly hot day In July, when I came upon
nm 0Nsts i'm the wilderness, the hons Of set
tier named Marks. 1t had been SO hot all /
day that no woik could be done out Of doors,
penrance that an Indian boy In Markss en-
pluy had gone To the upper end of q small
yexetable garden TO do some necessary chores.
He had BEEN there but u moment when he
cried out iii alarm, in the Indian tongue, "A
snake y snakew and jumped upon shelly
ilig rock hard by. Marks grabbed his Shot
gun and ran through the garden just III time
10 see an immense rattlesnake preparing W
strike the boy Hs inMped to one side ana
Hired, blowing the snakes head Off and saving
the boys life. The snake measured nine fest
one inch, and was as big as u mans leg
. But the best snake story Is told by Hank
PuIslfer, known otherwise as RATHER Hank"
on aecout or his Thousand and one adventures
with rattiesnakes. Hank has been bitten four
tines, and attributes bis continued existence
It'd the fact that he always packs plenty If
whisky with him. He has killed 400 rattle
snakes IN the last two years, 70 say nothing "
the hundreds he had got away with before,
that time, and of which he never kept record
TIC III the old mans delight to bask In tie
smiles Of hts cronies, and you may see him
oft any time, when he Is not out prospecting
&ttE tttt I. "A
In Bill Briggs cabin, comfortably loaded with
tanglefont and detailing his adventures. He
was In Florence Ia August on a big spree.
When he gets pretty badly fuddled ne tells
~ hear one them. Boys" lie asked, sdtd
YOU see that Greaser III town yesterday with
the tarantulas? / reckon you amt seed no
bigger tarantulas than them critters. | give
EN- to him; ketched en- out near the Alvara-
do mine; they was havin' a party
like. with q huh billin' o. rattlers. I never
seed no such ratters yet. Hank was leading
no to his story. One who knew him well al
once ordered the benzine for the crowd NJ
amt coed no such rattlers as them" he said,
setting down his empty glass. There was
1orty hundred II there was one, and rang
In al the way from two to ten feet In length.
And such an ALFRED hissn' and wriggin',
and bowin' and scrapin' 70 one mother as
around Mrs. Snake, and the young snakes
tumbltn' over their daddies and their nam
mics till you couldn't rest. What did i do2
reckon kinder didn't do nothin' but keep
shady. But blasted jack rabbit run across
the bush just behind me- an /, bein' kind o.
hungry like, let him have it. The noise of
the gun goil' off started the snakes, an they
saw me quicker q g second. an jess stood on
their hind legs and roared to get at the old
man. There war . pile OF rocks
hemmin' me In On all sides 'cept one.
had just come over them rocks d
slidin' down, but couldn't get back There
was only one way out, and that was right
through the snakes! And there was forty
hundred of 'em as sure as ----. They saw
they had me, and had already divided me up \,
like, an standin' there a lookin at 'em with
my eyes stickin' out and the sweat a pourin
OF ME like rain, an they Keep comm an a
openin' their jaws an lickin' o their chops
~ much As to say, Ole man, yer our meat
Well, yanked q rock an uriv 1t at EN-, an
before they got over their surprise I'd drunk
all the bug juice til my canteen an made
break. More,n tive hundred Of EN- must y
struck me as skinned through ths gauntlet.
R1t had IA mar az bteks kin hraaaheS over nv