Weekly Trinity journal., 1879-11-01
RATTLESNAKES IN ARIZONA.

In travelling through Arizona one is
bound to see snakes in his boots. don't
mean whisky snakes, but real snakes.
Not that Arizona whisky is lacking in
serpent>evoking potency. l took four
/ drinks one evening in June, after long
and tiresome dav in the saddle, and saw
a Chinaman poking 100, foot rattle
snake Mt me all night. Imagine, if you
can, what genIine case 1f tremens must
be with Arizona whisky for foundation!
/ Rattlesnakes are plentiful in Arizona.
They reach their greatest age here, and
are more savage than elsewhere. The
Arizona rattesnake is ripe for Il fight as
soon as he espies anything in the shape
ofa man. No rafting and then sneak
ing of, like his namesake in some of the
colder attitudes, but with head erect and
eyes blazing fury and defiance, he coils
and springs at his enemy. These Arizo
na snakes are especially fierce when met
in the road never yIeding the right Of
way urti they are killed, They vary in
color. One sort is almost black, with
yellow spots from head to tail another
is tawny yellow; and still another is
the color of the country rock. From June
to September the thermometer on the
plains averages from ll0 to 100 degrees
through the day, and often as high as
ll5 degrees at night. Snakes do not
move much through the dav in these
months, preferring to ensconce them
selves under the friendly shade of pro-
jecting rock or an occasional bit of sage
brush, and await the goirg down of the
sun. Then they come out and stretch
themselves in the cool dust Of the high
ways. This is a very dangerous country
for travellers at night. Horses are tre.-
Quently bitten on the legs and die in
agony Their lives are sometimes saved,
but not often. There are no end of rat
tie. make stories extant in Arizona. Some
Of them are truo.
A iew weeks ago | saw Mexican of
some thirty years residence ia Arizona.
My notice was attracted to him by a
large lump or bag of flesh hanging from
his face. l inquired about it. He had
been captured bv Il lot OF Apache Indians
when child. They fanced him for his
beauty and welknit frame, and desired
to keep him in the tribe, having previous
ly put it out OF his power to return home
by massacreing his parents and burning
the house so they took him into the
mountains whore there was no danger of
pursuit. There they caused II rattlesnake
to bite him on the eft check. They per-
mi TED the poison to take effect toa eer-
tain extent; then they applied an an.idoto
and saved his life. But he has ever since
carried about this unsightly reminder of
his strange experience.
Nowadays the Apaches are safely cor
rallied on Government reservations, and
the rattlesnake is left to his own playful
mncies. They generally know ifauy per
son is around and make their own presence
known. In some parts of the Territory
they are so fierce that they will attack a
man on horseback il he comes within
striking distance. Tom Ewing, of San
Fnnciscn, who erected several quartz
mills in Arizona, was driving along one
day when his progress was barred Mt an
abrupt turn by monster rattlesnnke.-
Iii, horse became panic stricken, aud as
he was unarmcd he had to turn round and
seek assi-turce ut the nearest station.
Several men came out with shOtguns, and
after "a fight which came neer proving fa-
tai to one of them, The venomous reptile
was killed. 1t stretched clear across the
road, distance of fourteen feet three in
ehes. Judging from the mum Der Of rat
ties, bis age could not have been less than
forty two years. do not vouch for this
story, but there are men in Arizona who
claim to have seen the STAKE after he was
killed 1t is one Of the traditions Of the
Territory.
Snakes from five to eight feet in length
are notnt all Uncommon. | was riding
along through Sal River Valley, at the
close of a terrible hot day in July, when
came upon AN oasi il in the wilderness, the
home 81 settler named Marks. II had
been 80 hot all day that no work could be-
done out Of doors, and il was only a few
minutes before NY appearance that an In
dian boy in Marks employ had gone 10 the
upper end ofa small vegetable garden 10
do some necessary chores. He had been
there but moment when he cried out in
alarm in the Indian tongue, O. A snake /!
"A snake !" and jumped upon shelving
rock hard by. Marks grabbed his shot
gun and ran through the garden just in
time To see an immense rattesnake pre-
pairing to strike the boy. lie jumped to
one side and fired, bIowing the snakes
head of and saving the boys life. This
snake measured nine feet and one inch, +,
and was rs big as mans leg - Cor. New
YOlk Sun.
THE CHAMPIoE BURGLARY STORY.
a Texas newspaper gives the following
news paragraph frnrl johnson county, in