The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-06-30

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of ST. Paul, if he be philosopher as well
as an artist, he may be able to trace to
those very ideas the genesis of political and
social reforms which have lifted the peoples
of the earth from their low estate and es-
tablished the preservation of their rights
and liberties as a fundamental axiom of
political science.
SURROUNDED BY SERPENTS.
TERRIBLE BATTLE OF THREE MEN
WITH SEA OF SNAKES.
Last nights Denver and Rio Grande
train brought (says the Leadville Chronicle
of recent date) three men who had Just
passed through an ordeal that is terrible to
contemplate, and their many wounds go to
show that the story they tell is but too true
and horrible in its details. The men are
Z. w. Smith and George HI. White, Jr.,
of Pueblo, and Thomas McGough, of Col
orado Springs. They detail the account of
their adventures about as follows: Nine
miles from the mouth of Cottonwood Creek,
up the stream, is a barren wilderness of
scrubby underground and boulders, and
rocks, and stones. To stand on the YER
! dant shore of this sea of waste land, one
would naturally conclude that they were
not many miles away from nowhere, and,
for aught they knew, were the first to dis
cover this blank sea of waste, barren,
worthless fy-speck on the shirt-front of
creation The men were on Il fishing ex-
pedition, and started Wednesday morning
from the mouth of the Minnehaha stream
to wend and wade their way toward its
source, when they reached the spot above
mentioned. Here night overreached them,
and, having lunch, they built fire and
made themselves as comfortable as possible
on the surface Of a scraggy mossed rock.
Being tired and footsore, as soon as their
scanty repast was eagerly devoured they
were soon reveling in dreams that, perhaps,
are more OF less pleasant to the mind while
fitting in the realms of such fancics. One
of the party had not been tangled with
Morpheus long before he was awakened by
something choking him, and, feeling, found
IL
was very fine specimen of the black snake
species, which was girding his throttle in
its anything but loving embrace The
monster was soon dispatched, and the party
were about to lie down again after ridding
themselves of his snakeship, when they
found by the aid Of the dying embers and
the assistance afforded by the quarter moon,
that they were literally surrounded by the
venom -tongued trailers. Two Of the party
proposed to decamp for more congenial
cline, but when about to leave the rock
they found themselves trampling on liv-
inc sea Of serpents. The kissing and rat
Ting became more audible, and it was but
a few minutes until it was as loud as ordi-
nary toned voices. The men, finding they
We're thus surrounded, broke branches from
the stubby underground of pines and COM
menced lashing the writhing sea of darting,
Kissing snakes Realizing that they had an
all-night Job, they added fuel to the fire,
and procured the largest sticks obtainable
and commenced the killing in earnest. The
light and noise seemed to awaken the whole
barren waste into tempest of kissing and
rattling. Each began the slaughter with
redoubled vigor, vainly endeavoring to fight
their way to the stream, some hundred
yards away, down slanting hill. They
would gain few PAGES of the distance, only
to be driven back again to the rock The
rattling and kissing became so loud that
their voices were not audible unless close
by. The sound was something like four or
five wheat separators in operation at one
time 1t was terrible. The hair on their
heads was standing straight and stiff like
the wires on a patent hair brush. Their
hands and arms were bloodstained to their
elbows, and the stencil from the snaky bat
tlefeld was sickening in the extreme. One
hour after the first snake was killed no less
than 5000 lay slain, and they kept coming
thicker and faster Two of the men were
bitten, and their legs and arms began to
swell and pain badly, and they frequently
had to rest and permit one to do the killing
of three, The hours wore slow ly by, and
the slaughter was kept up as best they
could. At last morning came and lifted
the curtain of night from a most APPALLING
scene. For fifty feet all around the huge
rocks lay heap of stunned, squirming and
dead snakes As far as they could see all
around the barren waste was seething tide
of reptiles that came toward the rock with
maddening fury. Concluding that they
might as well earn death by dearer fate,
they made ready to run for the stream,
thinking that if they gained the other side
they would have better chance to care for
their wounds, Leaping as far as possible
from the rock, they ran, frantic, struggling,
bitten, and, wild with pain, they plunged
into the water and reached the other side,
completely overcome by the terrible ordeal
just passed through, and after some time
bandaged their bleeding and swollen limbs.
By 9 o'clock they were sufficiently re-
covered to continue to Cottonwood Springs,
where they took the first train for Lead
vile to secure medical aid, arriving here
last night The unfortunate men are now
under the care of DIR. d. FL. Dougan.
They described the snakes as being speci-
mems of all kinds, such as adders, vipers,
copperheads, milk, house, green and black,
and among them were two hoop snakes and
racer, which they declare was no less than
twenty-five feet in length. The doctor
says the men are not fatally bitten, but it
will be some time before the swelling and
pain will disappear. They leave tonight