The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-10-28
An American Miner In Australia.

We had dug our shaft ut the base of a
tcn-foot hill ut McAllister's store, and had
driven tunnel right through into the hill,
following ledge that yielded some rich
washing The drive was very narrow, be-
ingSonly large enough TO give admission to
one man. | descended the shaft one morn
ing and entered the tunnel. Just rs l was
about to drive in my pick monstrous snake
rose up in front of me he had descended
the shaft during tho night, and worked his
way into the end of the drive. by the
light of my candle l saw it was a black
snake, ono of the most vcnomous of Aus
tralian reptiles. I saw he was about to
strike, and so l drew back, but in the act
struck my head against tho roof of the drive,
hitting myself such severe blow That FORA
moment lost my senses, and falling, |
overturned the light and felt myself in total
darkness Something seemed to whiz over
nc rs half stupidity tried to raise myself
to II sitting posture. | almost shrickcd with
terror, but the instinct Of sclf-prcscrvation
kept me silent. | lay for some time listen
ing, and feeling certain that | had not been
bitten, became possessed of an irresistible
longing to get out of the hole. | crawlcd
to the mouth Of the drift and there, ut the
bottom of the shaft, | saw his snakcship
squiming and twisting himself about. lie
had struck for me, but on my falling back
had missed nc and went over me; then
probably being somewhat frightened him
self, he had sought the mouth OF the drift
to make his escape. But he could not climb
the shaft, although he was making every
effort to dO So. | Mt once saw that | could
not get out Of the hole without bringing on
conflict between the snake and myself l
shouted up to Bill to be ready to hoist when
l gave him tho signal, explaining as well
us could the dangerous prcdicamcnt | was
in below. TO my shouting | received no
reply, and concluded that Bill had lett the
mouth of the chaft, probably to exchange
morning salutationS with the men in the ad-
joining claim, or to indulge in friendly
ppo with them, not supposing | would re-
quirc his assistance so quickly. saw that
the only course open to me was to disable
the snake if possible, and then to make my
escape from the shaft in the best way that
l could. Having made this resolve cmcrg-
cd from the drift, pick in hund and made
strike for the snake before he had time to
spring.
That was Il fortunate stroke The pick
entered his back and broke his spine. lie
was powcrlcSS to reach me. | seized The
rope and in Il few minutes got out of the
hole My first impulse was to throw my
self on my knees and offer prayer of
thanks for my marvellous escape. Then
called Bill. He descended the shaft and
succeeded in passing a switch beneath the
belly of tho snake ut the point where the
spine was broken; then he tied the two
ends of the switch together, and VIC hoistcd
the reptile to the surface. lie measured
nine feet four inches. lie had given such
terrible scare that resolved to he rcvcnr-
cd upon him, and was for cutting OF his
head at once, but aparty OF miners who had
gathered around us begged that he might
he laid across an anI-hill. told them they
might dispose Of him rs they pleased. They
carried him to an adjoining ant-hilla and laid
him across il {; the spine being broken, he
of course, could not escape. Then cnsucd
fight. The ants attacked him in force,
and ho slaughtered them by thousands but
they hurled legion after legion upon him,
and in less than two hours all that remain
ed OF the snake was beautifully polished
skeleton, which lay across the ant-hill
cleaning IN the sunshine.