The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-06-24
A Rattlesnake Concert.

Talk about snakes, !" remarked an
old hontiersman, g there are more
snakes In Arizona than ever existed In
Ireland before good old st. Patrick came
along and gave them the grand bounce.
Why, / have been everywhere; waded
Southern swamps when I would have to
stop a minute, the water up to my chin,
to allow drove or school Of water-moc-
casins or cotton-mouths to 60 by |; up in
the far Northwest and British America
I have lived like fighting cock and to
the Queens taste for weeks at q time on
snake steak, but I saw more rattlesnakes
down in Arizona one summer than ever
before in my life, all put together.
Down there they don't go in pairs,
clusters, or droves, but in columns, Just
for the world Like the children Of Israel
got up and tramped out Of Egypt with
Moses and Aaron in the van, and Jo-
seph, with his circus coat, bringing up
the rear. and friend went over in
the Tombstone country, among the hills
on prospecting expedition. There were
rattlesnakes all around us, but they did
not seem to be very savage. We would
scare them up riding along, and they
would sneak away from our track like
coyotes. One day, about 2 o'clock in
the afternoon, we were taking a hill, and,
as the ascent was very sharp, our horses
would stop every few minutes to blow.
Long before we. got to the summit we
heard a strange noise, or rather jargon
OF noises, apparently on the other side,
and, If we had been shot the next min
ute, could not have told from whence it
emanated. Why, it was worse than the
average church choir. Well, we got to
the top after while, the noise increasing
every step we took up By the time
we had got there it had become little
short Of terrific, and, looking down over
the side we saw sight that took the
cake. On little plateau of perhaps
fifty yards dimensions, about seventy
five feet below us, was regular rattle
snake reunion and concert. The ground
and stones were just yellow with them,
and If there was one there were at least
10000 snakes in the gang. They were
Of all ages and sizes, and how they en-
joyed themselves The two oldest
king-pins of the crowd were in the cen
ter, and the other snakes were all
gathered about them. Each and every
snake had coiled himself up in such a
manner as to allow their tails and rat
ties good play, and they were all rat
thing away as if for wages, and their
wicked tongues were darting out and in,
keeping up an accompaniment to their
tails. We looked at the racket for about
aminute, and then with an awful -four
ish the rafting stopped. The two old
snakes reared their heads at least three
feet off the ground, and looked all
around over the field in manner in
dicative Of q General on battle.
ground. After surveying the situation
and apparently seeing that every men,
Der OF the snake combination was ready
for business, they sounded note by
way Of tuning up, and the whole crowd
commenced their concert again. It
took them about ten minutes to finish
one tune, and we must have watched
them there through at least half
dozen. After while I got tired Of the
business. and rolled q rock down in the
crowd. This broke up the meeting
without delay, and, as several OF the
snakes were crushed to death, the others
set up an awful rafting, and crowded
away to their respective dens. I have
been among snakes all my life, but that
was the first snake concert I ever wit
nessed." '