Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-16

Svvarming With Snakes-Not Pleasant Place to Live In-Farmers Afraid to Harvest Their Crops. l KINGSTON, Aug. 15.-Perhaps the worst snake-den in the Middle States is on the Up
 per SawkiIl, Ulster county, among the foot ! hills of the Catskills. It is said that copper | head and adder snakes are so thick in that | region that in some places they seriously in- | terfere with the harvesting of crops. The
 farmers say they do not dare to cut the hay | and grain from certain fields until they have ! adopted all kinds of measures to exterminate the reptiles. Not long ago farmer named Eugene Britt found den of serpents, among which were racers horn-tan adders, gray ad- ders and pilots, in an old, worked-out flag stone quarry, while he was picking blackber- 1 ries. They were all coiled in together, and when he disturbed them they made terrible 1 hissing. He and an Irish boy named Andrew Ryan, who was with him, cut stout hickory I switch and began the work of destruction. One cut of the switch generally suficed to | stretch the reptile out. They killed thirty five of the reptiles in less than quarter of 1 an hour. The snakes were of all sizes, from the six-foot white-color ringed racer to the young adders of twelve inches, who took re- l fuge in their mothers stomachs at the ap- proach of danger. Besides those killed f many escaped. The farmers in that neigh | borhood say they can detect the presence of 1 snakes in field by giving quick, shrill whistle when they raise their heads above ! the grass so they can be seen.
 One day not long ago tramp applied to a farmer on the Sawkin for work He was in- ] 10 h fl1 cradle field of oats, and they were afraid to l do it on account of the field being infested ! with copperheads (pilots). He laughed at them, and said he would reap the oats, and wouldn't ask any extra pay for it either. He l then called for a piece of sheepskin with the wool on This being brought he bound it about his legs as high as the thighs. Then he \ took the cradle and went to work in the field as if there had never been a. snake | in it. When he had finished the job, how | ever, he had slaughtered every snake in the | field eighteen in number-an pilots-and | had five sticking fast in the sheep skin about I his legs, where they had caught fast to the wool with their fangs when they struck at | him. Several of these the tramp brought to Kingston and exhibited on the streets. This idea of binding something generally thick ! wad of straw-about the legs has long ! been practiced by the farmers as l protection when they are to nov or reap in field infested with l snakes The reptiles strike their fangs into | the straw, which generally holds them, thus giving the farmer chance to cut them ln two with his scythe. The farmers of late years have adopted a plan of turning their | hogs into the fields as soon as the crops are gathered, and if the hogs are allowed their own way they will soon exterminate every I thing in the way of snakes.
 Separated i'm Life United tn Death-A Young Man Kills His Divorced Wife. ROCHESTER, Aug 15.-About half-past four o'clock yesterday afternoon terrible tragedy l occurred in the village of Bath, Steuben county, resulting in the death of a young lady and well known lawyer of that place. The
 parties are Miss Fanny Howell and K. Ed. Parkhurst The former was member of