The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1879-04-18
THE LATEST SNAKE STORY.
The Fight of two Farmers with Fifty.
six YenomOus Reptiles.

six VenOmOus Reptiles.
Last Friday Zebulon Martin and his
son, who live about six miles from Oil
City, were engaged in removing a huge
pile of stones on their farm when they
suddenly unearthed what seemed to be n
large ball of black rope, knotted and Gu
riously interlaced. The mass was as
large as bushel basket and was covered
with light pOwdery substance, more re-
semblIng bran than anything else. The
sun was shining brightly nj the time,
and as the warm rays fell upon the bali
two men detected slight movement in
its many coils. Old Martin Immediately
yelled ''snakesr' and jumped back to a
safe distance. His son Charles, who
was OF more inquiring turn of mind
procured long pole and stirred up the
yielding mass. The touch and warmth
revived the dormant reptiles, and the
surface of the ball seemed covered with
rattles which swayed to and fro, the
sound resembling the blowing of wind
through the dead leaves of tree. What
seemed at first gordian knot began to
unravel. The tails prOturded more and
more as the snakes unlocked their
intricate coils, as they appeared to be
packed with their heads in the center of
this living ball. 1t was curious Yet
disgusting sight, the squirming and CON
tOrtions of the hideous Serpents as they
| emerged from their winters nap, ami
the two spectators watched them with
| some feelings of apprehension. One ol
the men picked up a stone and tossed il
into the writhing mass, in order to ''stir
| 'em up" as he expressed il. He sue
ceeded most effectually. The ball OF
snakes fell apart and disclosed some fifty
or sixty rattlesnakes of all skies. covered
with whitish slime, which had exuded
| from their bodies and perhaps served as
means of protecting them from the Sc
verify of the winter. Thoroughly arous-
ed, the venomous reptiles dashed their
| tails in fury and gllded over each other
with surprising agility, their bright eyes
shining with excitement, their mouths
wide open and fOrked tongues protrud-
| ing, as they Kissed defiance at their per
| secutOrs. One huge reptile, nearly six
feet in length, and with swollen body,
raised itself half its length from the cen
ter of the group, and turning its fiat,
| ugly head toward the intruders, opened
wide its mouth and swayed to and
| fro, kissing angrlly. Then another
stone was thrown, this time good sized
one, crushing and manning many of the
| reptiles in its fall. The scene was simply
| frightfuI as described by one of the spec
III tAASAA oS,oAl l1lC olltthCS NTllIi-
ed and Missed with redoubled fury,
| twisting over and over in the blood and
slime, while the uniniured ones escaped
from their wounded companions and
glided toward the Martins with heads
uplifted and rafting ominously. Both
men acknowledged that they were lit
tie frightened when they saw the deadly
reptiles going straight for them with the
evident purpose of taking revenge on
their enemies. Perceiving the situation
looked decidedly unpleasant, the two
men armed themselves with stout clubs
and hogan killing the serpents. Strange
to say the creeping foes were so agile
that this was accomplished with great
difficulty, and several times the men
were Obliged to retreat to escape the
deadly fangs. AT last the work was ac-
cOmplished, and the battlefield was
strewn with the dead bodies of snakes of
all sizes, from the huge liking" to dim
inutive young ones. The largest spotted
seventeen rattles, a trophy which Mr.
Martin cut off and took home with him
to convince dIsbelievers in his marvel
Gus exploit. Fifty-siX Snakes were laid
low.-Oil City Derrick.