Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-18
RATTLESNAKES.
A TOWN MANS TALK ABOUT
THEM.

| noticed in the MORNING NEWS that
Charles d. Fish was bitten by a rat
tlesnake near this city last Sum
day. l am glad to know that the
prompt measures he took to prevent the
poison from spreading through his syS-
tenn saved his life.
The rattlesnake Is familiar reptile IN
the South; in fact, it is at home in every
part of the United States. AS common as
il is it is a terror to all whose callingS
take them into the woods. The rattle
snake, say the naturalists, lies dormant
in the winter, during which time it
is harmless. This is probably true in
more northern ATTITUDES, but along the
coast country of the CarOlinas, Georgia
and Florida its winter Siestd, if it has
any at all, is very brief. 1t finds home
in the hollow of tree or stump, and when
the bright winter sun shines forth 1T
is verv prompt to avail itself OF its
genial rays Its shOme the practiced
woodsman discovers by his snakeship
clearing it off as it moves about to keep
in the sunshine. The hunter, or farmer,
never passes a rattle if he has anything
with which to dispatch it. He will route
the snake from his quarters and kill it.
The snake is too deadly to allow one to
hive if 1t is possible to kill it. In riding
III IuG WOODS OF along luG Country iOdu lJo
presence is quickly discovered by the
morse. Before his rider can see it the ami
NAL has smelt it. 1t is but seldom that cat
tie are killed by them, partly, probably,
because they smell them and avoid them,
or. probably, because they avoid the cattle.
1t is generally accepted theory
that the hog can quickly dispatch
a snake, after the latter has struck him in
his snOut, which is an absorbent OF
poison, and the hog then eats it. The
deer is also said to ''handle," as it We're,
the rattlesnake by jumping up and
coming down on it with his four
hoofs, cutting it in pieces. The rattle
snake, as deadly as he is, has foes
worthy of his tangs in the king-snake and
the black snake-the former, it is said,
will kill anything of the snake kind, and
the black snake is at least match for the
crOtdluS hOrTidUS.
THE SNAKE GROWS TO AN IMMENSE SIZE,
five feet in length, and s to 10 inches
around the centre of the body not being
an extraordinary measure for it in the
lowland along the coast. They are very
much the color of the dead limb of sew
eral varieties of trees. Cases have been
known where two rattlesnakes being near
together, a man has almost picked
up one of them, mistaking
it for a dead limb, to kill the other with.
A snake is said, in the language of the
country, to fuse" a certain place, and
the snake hunter is always on the lookout
for it in the corners of old fences, in tree
stumps. and in the heavy saw palmetto
which intermingle with the pines in the
low pine barrens.
AS terrible as the rattle is, as fatal as
is its stroke, there are people who pet
them or keep them for amusement. 1t is
col no fboro frU
who eat snakes as they do cells, and pre-
fer the rattlesnake to all others. This
cannot be called a vitiated taste, if we re-
member that frogs are served in our res
taurants, and the menu of the frog
and the snake is somewhat the same.
In tact, l believe the snake IS fond of
rabbits and the frog prefers flies, and if
we Judge them by their food, judgment
must be In favor Of the snake.
The bare-footed berry-gatherers whom
we see peddling their black fruit in the
streets occasionally fall victims to the
rattlesnake. Some years ago colored
woman gathering berries near Sandf1y Sta
ton, on the road to Isle of Hope, was bit
ten by a rattlesnake and died almost be-
fore she could say ''Jack Robinson"
HOW TO CURE A sNAKE-BITE.
An old negro man of my acquaintance
who had failed to keep an appoint
ment about a job | had for him,
excused his absence by saying that
his wife, who offended de CROP" had
been snake-bit that day, The old woman
was picking Okra when a rattle
struck her in the leg. | had expected
old Daddy Abram'' to say his wife was
dead. He went on, however, and stated
she was getting better. asked him what
he had done to save her. ''Well, sab, you
see when | belonged to Mr.. -, long be-
fore de wah, we hab lots of snakes about
de piace-dey usen to run all ODER de
ward. Ebery now an den somebody been
bite by dem. Ole massa, soon as he hear
dat de snake bit us, he would put
de leg or de foot in a tub wild
lime in it, and pour water on it, and de
green poison would rise to de top of de
water. | remember dis, and as | hab
lime to whitewash de house, | take and do
Abby dat same way, and please God she
all rightnOw." Old Abram told me further
that he and Abby had been on bad terms
for some time, "but dat snake-bite had
brought us togeder again. Verify like
many other misfOrtunes a snske-bite, il it
is not fatal, may be blessing in disguise.
A DANGEROUS PLAYTHING.
A story is told of a cOlored man who was
very fond of killing snakes. He would
catch them by the tail, and by quickly
dashing them against a tree kill them.
He was not at all particular about what
kind of a snake it was; rattle or other
wise, they all shared the same fate. Pass
ing along the road one day, he spied a rat
tlesnake, and Selling it by the tail was
about to give it the ''happy dispatch" but
the snake was the quickest, and struck
him in the hand. The story is that in
three minutes the negro was dead.
Mr.. T, Moves, the attentive keeper of
Forsyth Park, was once a snake fancier
Che may be so YETI. He had cages filled
with snakes, but his pets were his big
rattlesnakes. Many years ago he made a
trip to Germany, and took with him sew
eral cages of rattlesnakes for the Royal
Museum. He was fortunately accompa-
nied by cOlOred boy. After the snakes had
safely landed on the other side of the
water, Mr.. Moves thought he would take
a look at them. AS he leaned over a
cage one of the rattlesnakes plunged its
fangs into his forehead. He of
course, realized the terrible calamity
that had befallen him, but had presence
of mind to get his cOlOred attendant TO
suck the wound. This extracted part OF
the poison, but not enough to save Mr..
Moves from suffering almost as much as
the agonies of painful death. He was for
months confined to his bed, the larger veins
of his system shrunk to nothing and the
life blood had to find its way through the
smaller veins. Life has since been Kept
in his body by the heart forcing its fluid
through new channels.
A DEADLY BOOT.
The fangs of the rattlesnake, it is said,
retain the poison for years after they have
been extracted. In handling them the
utmost care is exercised, the snake-fancier
using nippers for that purpose. There
is a story told in connection with
the rattlesna&e fangs which, though
startling, is not improbable. A farm
er was fatally bitten by rattlesnake
whose fangs penetrated the leg of his
boot. The boots, after the owners death,
were laid aside and forgotten. Some years
after they were found and given to some
one connected with the family. Soon after
putting them on the wearer showed signs
of snake poisoning and died. AS he had
not been bitten by a snake his death was
regarded as a mystery. An examination
showed a slight abrasion of the flesh on
one Of his legs. The boot which had been
taken off Of it was examined, and in it
was found the broken fang of the snake
that had caused the death of the original
owner of the boots.
1t is said that that good old man Saint
Patrick, whose memory we celebrate
once a year, put all the Irish snakes in
box and sunk them in the sea. 1t
was thought that snakes could not live
in the Green Isle after this summary
disposition of their ancestry. A
doubling Thomas, who did not believe
this snake story, carried snakes to Ire
land few years since, and it is said that
the,snake crop there is gradually increas-