The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-12-13
NUMBER 13.
Tough Stories.


One of the characters of this village d
o venerable man named Uncle John
Hurr, who settled here more than fifty
years ago, and he takes great pleasure
in relating incidents and stories of pioneer
times. Last evening there was quite q
large party assembled under the naples,
and the conversation turning on snake
stories, ex-Sheriff Piatt, the proprietor
of the hotel. asked Uncle John to tell
T. r--s something about how
- ..,ll.ssnakes were fifty years ago.
81 fear you would not b'leeve me"
said the veteran, .'if I was to tell you
what have seen the snakes do"
sis it true that rattlesnakes were so
plenty on these mountains once that the
settlers had to fire guns in the evening to
frighten them away and prevent them
from swimming the creek"
That's fact" replied Uncle John,
shut I can tell you something stranger
than that about the pesky varmints. -
Lets have it." all hands exclaimed
at once.
..Jist keep quiet an I'll tell how big
blacksnake once treated me-"
"Wen, once, about forty-nine years
ago, / went up on that mountain one
afternoon for huckleberries. They were
very plenty in those days, and SO were
the snakes. carried small basket,
and it was not long before bad it well
filed with very choice berries. sot the
basket down by big stone and was jist
reachin' for some more bernes when /
heerd terrible trashir' in the bushes,
an soon 1 seen the head of snake
comm toward me. I knew it was big
black racer at once, an as / always car
ried stout hickory stick prepared to
give battle if it tackled me;;" and Uncle
John took off his spectaeles and wiped
the glasses,
..What did it doP'' inquired Judd, the
miller
''What did it do? Why, it jist sailed
up to my basket, and seizin' it in its
mouth sailed off through the bushes
holdin' it as proudly as if it had gath
cred every berry,"
.'Now, Uncle John, you don't mean
that the snake carried off your basket of
huckleberries in its mouthp" said Billy
Sweatman, the minstrel, who was one
of the summer visitors.
.'I jist mean that" replied the pio-
neer, as he brought his stout cane down
on the platform with thwack that
made the boards crack. cam that's not
LII AOb 0OAC nlI4 61AdO oAohC JCu-
Let's have the s0hole story" said
Billy.
.iWen, didn't like the idea of losin'
my basket, an so 1 gave chase to the
racer; an the way we thrashed around
among the bushes for half an hour was
a caution, the snake holdin' my basket
all the time in its mouth. Finally got
near enough to hit it blow on the back
as it was crawlin' over log. and that
settled it,
..Did you get the basketp'' they all
asked.
..Yes, Stree; but had to pry its jaws
open with a stick before it would let go
of the handler
..Was it big snakep'' inquired the
village blacksmith.
"a big snake! 1t just measured nine
feet long, and was as thick as young
saplin'," said Uncle John, as he pointed
to maple about four inches in thick
ness. And then he removed his specta-
cles and leaned back in his chair like q
Congressman after voting for some big
bill.
General II. W. Farley, candidate for
Congress in this district, happened along
before Uncle John had finished his snake
story, and became an interested listener.
Everybody knew him, and they all de-
manded that he should tell story.
The General took seat, and, remoV-
ing his spectacles, began by saying:
''When was up the Sinnemappning
Creek last winter, 1ookin' for timber, I
discovered black bear coming down
the mountain pretty fast not far from
where was standing, and, supposing
that something had frightened him, did
not attempt to hide or climb tree, as i
thought he would keep on. But soon
discovered that he was mad, and that I
aad made a mistake, for the moment
that he discovered me he gave growl,
and opening his mouth very wide, rushed
at me. L had no weapon with me but a
stout pocket-knife with long blade,
and hurriedly opened it, determined to
sell my life dearly if the ferocious beast
attacked me- 1 didn't have to wait long
before bruin. came up in front of me,
and, rearing on his hind legs, prepared
to embrace me. As he reached out his
paws and undertook to hug me, IjumpeS
around to his back, and, showing th
knife-blade into his neck, drew it cle&s
down to his tail, cutting him so COM
pletely in two that he fell apart at my
feet There was powerful pressure on
that knife-blade, boys, but it saved mef'
-FruI Run Cor. Philadelphia Times