The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-03-18
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y" YOU ~urpo~,. they will ever Get So
they can train snakes" asked one of the
parry. after The LONG pause that followed
an account "t how Wisconsin woman
is"d caught 4 raj tieSnakc by setting her
hp~hanrS false terth for them
s. >..p"rl Of case" said man from
Michigan. ~ friend Of mine in the ,nm-
b"r 1cr~tric'~ found one in hi, pocket our
day and ~cw"'l IA" pocket up until tlr
snake Wa N'gll starved. Then h. LEI him
ont an tcI him nml after that The ~lljk"
would i" anything H. told him to d..
il"'I H.. for tn" deer, and rs soon H. it
how ia ~i4ht he'd st tn" snake altcr il.
ana rho ru~sc1 snake would jump through
the .j..1'-,vn and kill him dead -
i've hrarm "l il bein done" a>Srnfcd
tho Iowa man. "Whcn | was in the
mines nay ,hHm lit onto one and brought
i home. The ~nak~touk TO hlm from The
STAR. a,@ in les than a week he had rhc
>tfIlir jrswiu- water.
"lI.a'I he work il, :" I.mandc,l th,.
Nra:-aa man.
:" ,e>ct knew IT," rieh, OF il -. rep led
thr !" 81 man. d" l"U know wirn we
were .liggin' We lrln't have II" time TO-
waste. II man grt dry ne oruI4cl ;it.
;jlnc 10 iaA" a drink at water IIc'd
ruthcr 20 dry. But this chum OF mine
iiNrd filu4- 80 thai he had no trouble in
N,cl,ln Wet al the time. That snake
W"uli 20 of' and fill himself up with wa
ter and .hcn n would come back and
bite This chum of mine. The snake had
arranged himself so that he didn't squirt
any venom through his fangs, only pure
water. and as soon As he unloadcd, off he
went for more He got so atftctionate he
almost drowned my friend one day, and
chummy had to put him to death
81 had one" said the Illinois man,
"who was the best and wust snake ever
seen. One end Of him was all of, and the
other was the moral business in that neck
o the woods. The wuSt of him was he'd
steal things around the house, but when
the tail end caught the mouth at any
crooked business. it would rattle, and we
always got there before he could get away
with the goods. You ought to see the
grateful wag of that tail when the mouth
got left"
How did the mouth stand it," asked
the Iowa man.
"The mouth used to get mad, replied
the Illinois man: "but it couldn't bite
unless IT stood up on its tail, and the tail
wouldn't have it :"
"Got him vet ," asked the Michigan
man.
"No, he hackcaprcd MS and we had to
usual. and turned around and bit his tail
short off. That settled it, and we rammcd
him into rifle and shot a sheriff with
him"
"I bad one good many years ago,
observed the Texan, "but he got into all
kinds of mischief. and we didn't take no
comfort with him He used to crawl into
the chickens and eat the giblets, so there
weren't nothing left to make gravy when
we had a roast. As soon as the hen
opened her mouth, in he went, and he'd
stav there until he'd eat up the crop, and
heart, and gizzard, and kidneys, and all
them things. The hens would lay good
enough, but we had no choice parts when
it came to cooking"
You never can tell what they're 60
ING to do" smiled the Ne> ada man. "My
brother brought one up from Arizona
wanted him for the children to play with.
He slept in the clock nights cause he
liked to feel the works scratch his back.
1t sort % soothed him. But we noticed
the most curious thing about his rattles.
Sometimes they would be bigger than he
was, and then again he wouldn't have
but one or two little ones that wasn't no
good to snake of his size When he
had the 'bigs, as we called it, he was the
bcst-natured snake in town, but when
they were small there was no getting
close to him."
"lIow did you account for the change
in the rattles?" asked the Texan.
alt was long time before we got onto
it" remarked the Nevada man. But one
night we followed him. Where dye think
we found the snake? He was out in the
woods pIayin' seven up, with three other
snakes, for rattles, and when we captured
him he had bushel of rattles ahead, had
caught the jack, and held the ace and low
in his hand
Who pays for these drinks, gentle
men ?" enquired the barkeeper solemnly.
And then they got up and wandered
out, and were seen Of men no more.