Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1879-10-25
NO. II.

,,t.d bis shot gun and ran through tho
garden Just in time to sec an immense
preparing to strike inc ooS'
He Jumped to one side and hred' blowing
tho snakes head off and saving the boys
,if, This snake measured nine teet ana
ono inch and was as big as mans leg.
Rnt the best snake story Is to1d d!
Hank Pulsifsr, known otherwise as "hat-
tle Hank" OH account ofhis thousand aud
ono adventures with rattlesnakes. hank
has been bitten four times, and attrlDu5eS
bis continued existence to the fact thab
h.. ALWAYS packs plcnty Of whiskey Win
him. He has killed 400 rattlesnakes IN
the last two years, to say nothing OF tho
hundreds he had got away with before
,h,t t;me, and of which he never kept
record. 1t is the old mans delight to
bask in the smiles of his cronies, and you
NAV see him at any time, when be IS not
out prospecting the neiShbor'ns MUS ZOE
| gold or silver, sitting in Bill brisgss
cabin, comfortably loaded with tangle-
foot and detailing his adventures. Ito
was in Florence in August on big SPREE
When he gets pretty badly fuddled no
tells his biggest yarns. 1t was my gooo
| fortune to hear one of them. "boys, no
asked, sdid you ses that Greaser IN town
Yesterday with the tarantulasf reckon
von ain t seed no bigger tarantulas than,
t,.,n critters. give 'em to him ketch-
ed 'ern out near the Alvarado m'ne, tneS
| was havin' party like with hull Dim
o. rattles. 1 never seed no such rattles
. vet. Hank was leading up to his story:
Ons who knew him well at once ordered
3 the benzine for the crowd L anu seeu
3 no such rattles as them" he continued,
Q setting down his empty glass" 1here
= was forty hundred if there was one, ana .
9 raarin' all the way from two to ten foo'
4 in length. And such an all-hred hlsslh
Is and u wriggn' and a bowin' and a scrap
IA in to one 'other as polite as you please,
n and Mr.. Snake crawlin' around Mrs. Snake,
" ,nd the vouns snakes tumblin' over their
j. d,1lies and mammes till you conldn't
l. rest. What did dos reckon 1 kinder
Il didn't do nothin' but keep shady. But i
ne blasted jack rabbit ran across the ousn
ne inst behind me, an bein' kind O hungry
he like, let him have it. The noise 'he
,h rnn roin' off started the Snakes, anu theS
at saw ne quicker n secoud, an jess s1ooo
ch IN their hind legs and roared to get at the
er- old man. There war pile o rocks hem
he min me in on all sides 'ceCt ones hAo
an ;ost come over them rocks a slidin down,
ait dut couldn't get back. There was only
ley one way out and that was risho shro"S"
tie tho snakes! And there was forty nun
ery ar.d of,am "a sureas-. They saw they
rht h,1 p,, and had already divided me NJ
ecs, like an I staudin' there lookin at 'en
me ,,;+h nv c-es stickin' out and the sweat
3 no ,onrin' off me like rain: an, they kep
Ari- comm an a openin' their jaws an hcS
in, q, their chops as much as to say "Ol
I of man, yer our meat" Well yankeo
My rock an driv it into 'em, an before 'he
arGe cot over thei1 surprise ia drnnk all u
his .sbis Juice" in my canteen an maoe
been break. More'n five hundred OF 'em mu
vhen , struck me as I skinned through u
eau cantlet, But I bad a par O bucksk
sired hroeches over my butternuts an the
;ou- f,ols couldd't bite through. So hoot'
,ome - over the perrarie for more'n half mi
ming c,s T didn't d'ar to stop second or tn
Oun- would a got loose an sIruch "'0 o "
pur- hand. As it was, they KEEP a strihS
ke to outsbehind me like so many taiis.
per ,-on couldn,t seen 'e1n for the dust. Y
a cer- hear meW
anti Hanks listeners were setting III OPT
\ ever mou1hed wonder taking in the story as
y re- spun it out, and they were eagerly ava
;nr the climax. Sagebrush Charlie spc
safely ,,n. ~ ,ook q here, Hank, you say til
t;ons | was five hundred snakes hltched On
-, | YOUR breeches 7" $3.50,
"" eyes five hundred nary ore less,
now II "Well. = ow much you reckon each
own ter would average-aboua three poaho
Of the | reckon y
~ will "W all"
" ~'ll "why, on'y this; you war pac1aln a
comes teen hundred pounds o snakes. ftr'
ging Of YOU will take a tumble to y9utseli
quartz kinder cSPlalh III" SoN
-. ,. many critters"
pS "no ..I.aoz bere, Cherlie; you're pr
at an souor kind of a boy, and pooty goo
,suake. fi.,rers and arithnetckin, an that
,, s n fruck an I don't mind sayln' TO
''"" "' that fifteen hundred pounds O sn
tnfn t.ck,sd onto 4 man when he Is sea
20 near when he is right down scar't-doht
ut wi5h more'n a ordinary shotgun; 70" II
y, c,mo stop to weigh en-. didnt t bave no
- 49,. Charlie was etlectually sllehceo;,
EN-, 'he "Wall, as was saying, boys.
stretch cautinued, s'the varmints KEEP a s"l
5ance of in the air an q goiW forty miles
Judging ute. l seeu s,a Sho,o on vankei out my
ge conld S,I oommcnceu chopin their tn
o years. close up. to their ears: By hhe u
ut there rived al Moss ranoh .,IS oS r' stiii
to have ca' away rs ""U tn INV buckskius
ed. 1t is - - w3r a lively canter while it lasted
tory. "IIow many heats was 'nI' >, :, -
in length into your puch'hin''
$ riding ashGu. aG mn sea. lem mo see," Hal
cy ut tho svered. Il declare ! forgot. he