The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1879-07-24
THE BOSS.

Save the King snakes-A Story that b Equal
To II not The Superior Of sny Snake
Sssry Of the ssasoa.
Prom the Rchmnd Va Dispatch.
The following is "a snake story as is q
snake story" 1t comesfrom the Southern
Home through the Greensboro Patriot
our friend Duffy, of that paper. Showing
his proper appreciation by copying tn.
same and marking it, that we might Gee il
for which We thank him:
The story is one of very great interest
Mr.. Morrison Is an educated gentleman
and showed his critical disposition by thu
tests to which he resorted to find out whal
the king snake was about. He was graf
lied, and We venture to say that he i.
amongst the very few men. if not the onl,
man, who can say that he has seen thu
king snake swallow the copperhead. W.
have often heard of the black snake anG
the king snake killing the poisonous snake.
such as my lord with the rattles, the cop
perhead and the vipes, but never Of q
case of swallowing Of either of these BY
the black or the king snake. It was an
ingenious operation. The king snake
held az with a vice the mouth of copper.
head so that he could not bite, until en-.
tirely disabled by suffocation and then as
sisted his passage down into the place Of
digestion. An admirable point in the de.
scription by Mr.. Morrison is that OF the te.
nacity of the king snake in maintaining
his ground. The lifting of him and his
victim together and the conveying Of them
some distance and the impaling Of the vic.
tim with fork could not disconcert him
or break his hold upon his prey. The sto-
~, we venture to say, is one of the most
interesting snake stories that have appear
ed for years in the public prints. We echo
the heading which we have given above,
which we suppose to be that adopted by
Mr.. Morrison. Aye, save the king
snake and save the black snake. They are
believed to he of the same family; are both
constructors and the only ones, we believe
in North America.
Persons often kill the black snake
merely, we suppose, because snake is a
men is to kill all kinds Of snakes wherever
they are found. The black snake Is famed
as the enemy OF those great pests Of So
ciety, rats and mice. The king-snake is
not so often seen as the black snake, and
it is matter not so clear as it might be
desired what relation exactly he sustains
toward the black. But we take it, that
he too, is no stranger to rat-holes, and
would not hesitate to enter one that he
found convenient. Let US not be shocked
at these two ophidians, who hurt nobody
but the enemies of man, Spare them. In
youth we once Joined IN the killing OF
splendid king-snake. He was fully nine
feet long; and when we concluded that he
was dead there was pile of rolled stones
upon him SO high that his body was en-,
tirely hidden. We were afterward in
formed that he was not poisonous, and we
have regretted the unnecessary outrage of
his taking off, ever since. Mr.. Bergh
himself-a very supererogatory gentle
man, we must confess-could not have
more earnestly regretted the act had he
committed It.
CABARRUs COUNTY. June 1l.-As my
sons were going to pillow they heard
noise near the roadside. and on looking
they saw large king-snake coiled around
a heavy copperhead snake, with the head
of the venomous reptile in his mouth
One of the boys got q forked stick and car
ried the serpents to The house, about three
hundred yards distant; but the king snake
did not unloose the hold upon the head of
its victim. The two were placed near the
window where | was sitting, and watch
ed them fully an hour. They seldom
moved. This was about shutdown. Await
ing TO see how they would make it, and
fearing the copperhead would get away,
! had fork run through his body and
fastened it to the ground. Now. it looked
as if the king-snake had uncoiled and was
fast swallowing him. At the expiration
of half an hour we took oat the fork, and
he started off with his prey. We put in
the fork again and then turned box over
them until morning. There then appear
ed but one snake-the king-snake-and
when released he glided away.