The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-23
An Arizona RattIesnake storr.


Hank Pulsifer, known otherwise as
q Rather HANK on account of his
thousand and one adventures with rat
tlesnakes. Hank has been bitten four
times, and attributes his continued exist
ence to the fact that he always packs
plenty of whiskey with him He has killed
l, 400 rattlesnakes in the last two years,
to say nothing of the hundreds he had
got away with before that time and of
which he never kept a record. It is the
old mans delight to bask in the smiles
of his crOnies, and you may see him at
any time, when he is not out prospect
ing the neighbOring hills for gold or
silver, sitting in Bill Briggs's cabin,
comfortably loaded with tanglefoot and
detailing his adventures. He was in
Florence in August on big spree.
When he gets pretty badly fuddled he
tells his biggest yarns. 1t was my good
fortune to hear one of them. q Boys"
he asked 4" did you see that Greaser in
town yesterday with the tarantulas? l
recken you amt seed no bigger tarantu-
las than them critters. I give 'em to
him; ketched 'em out near the Alvarado
mine; they was havin' party ike with
a hull bilin' o. rattlers. l never seed no
such rattlers yet. Hank was leading
up to his story. One who knew him at
once ordered the benzine for the crowd.
/ amt seed no such rattlers as them, .
he continued, setting down his empty
glass. "There was forty hundred if
there was one, and rangin' all the way
from two to ten foot in length. And
such an ALFRED hissin' and a wrigglin'
and a bOwin' and a serapin' to one
mother as polite as you please,
and Mr.. Snake crawlin' around
| Mrs. Snake, and the young snakes a
tumblin' over their daddies and mamies
! till you couldn't rest. What did | do?
! l reckon kinder didn't do nOthin' but
keep shady. But a blasted jack rabbit
run across the bush just behind me, an
| l bein' kind o hungry like, let him have
/ it. The noise o. the gun goin' off start
ed the snakes, and they saw me quicker
IN a second, an jess stood on their hind
| legs and roared to get at the old man.
There war pile o. rocks a hemmin' me
in on all sides 'cept one. l had Jest
come over them rocks a slidin' down,
but couldn't get back. There was only
one way out, and that was right through
the snakes! And there was forty hun
! dred of 'em as sure as -. They saw
they had me, and had already divided
me up like, an l standin' there a lOOkin'
at 'em with my eyes stickin' out and the
sweat a pOurin' on me like rain, an they
kept a comm an a-Openin' their jaws
an a-Hckin' o. their chops as much as to
say, Ole man, yer our meat Well, ]
yanked a rock an driv it into EN-, an
before they got over their surprise I'd
drunk all the bug juice in my canteen
an made a break. More'n five hun
bred of 'em must struck me as l skin
ned through the gantlet. But l had a
par o. buckskin breaches over my but
= -, - L. L a.
through. So / hoofed it over the per-
rarie for more'n. half mile, cos didn't
d'ar to stop a second or they would a
got loose an struck me on the hand.
As it was, they KEEP a-stringin' out be-
hind me like so many tails. But you
couldn't seen 'em for the dust You
hear me!''
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 Char
lie spoke up: g Look a yere, Hank, you
say there was five hundred snakes
hitched on TO your britches?'
Yes, five hundred; nary one less
"Well, how much you reclOned each
critter would average - about three
pounds, reckon?''
"W-a-ll!"
"Why, only this; you war packin
fifteen hundred pounds o. snakes. Per
haps you will take tumble to yourself
and kinder explain how you could pack
so many critters"
" Look here, Charlie; you're a pretty
squar kind of boy, and poOty good OF
fggers and arithmetickin, an that kline
o. truck, an l don't mind sayin' to yor
that fifteen hundred pounds o. snakes
tackled into a man when he is scarf
when he is right down scar't-dOn'
weigh mOre'n ordinary shotgun. Yoa
might stop to weigh 'em. l didn't hav,
no time
Charlie was effectually silenced.
Wall, as l was saying, boys HAM
continued, 90 the varmints KEEP a swish
in in the air an L goin' forty miles &
minute. 1 seed there was only one way
to get rid of 'em, an l yanked out my
knife an commenced chopin thei1
tails off close up to their ears. By the
time l rived at Moss's ranch they haC
all been cut away, but their heads wa
still stickin' by the fangs to my buck
skins. Boys, it war lively canter while
it lasted. -
How many heads was their stick
in onto your buckskins, HankP'' Charlie
asked.
"Lem me see; lem me see," Hanl
answered - declare 1OfgiJ- heuD
told you the other day how many
, snakes heads there was a hanging t.
| my buckskfns that day. Do you rex
l lectP''
) 81 reckon it was four hundred anC
ninety-seven."
Four-hundred- and-ninety -sev
en-. Yes, yes: 1 said five hundred
didn't I, boys? 1 take it back, it wa
four hundred and ninety-seyen but wha
in - is three snakes in such a outfit p
) Then the glasses were filled up again
-ATtz01aG Letter to Ne1C York SAM