The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-06-17
A BATTLE With SNAKES.
Perlious Adventure Of Party of Young
Men.

Perilous Adventure of Party OF Young
Men.
Port Jervis IN. Y.) specIal.l
Last Sunday morning party Of three
young men, W. p. Hall and two BROTH
ers named Westfall, had lively en-
counter with lot of rattlesnakes and
black snakes at Roses Switch, about six
miles west of this village. The locality
Ia wild and romantic. 1t Is In the center
Of a bluestone country, and every spring
the quarrymen in blasting the rock come
across large quantities of snakes which
have ensconced th emselves in the blue
stone lodges to escape the rlgors of the
long winter months. They emerge In the
spring, and after basking in the hot sun
for few days they leave the spot for
food aud water. just above Roses Switch
Is thick ledge or succession of lodges Of
rock known to almost every quarryman
as the snake den. The young men had
this place in view when they started
out. Providing themselves with stout
green clubs they advanced cautiously
upon several large rattlers found summing
themselves, and quickly dispatched them,
not, however, before they had given the
peculiar rattling noise for which they are
so well known. This had the effect Of
bringing out countless numbers of rep
tiles, and before the young men were
aware Of it they were surrounded on all
sides by Kissing, rattling lot of snakes
that made them shudder with foar. Fort
unately they had on stout boots, and the
snakes were not in as good condition to
bite and do harm as they would be later
In the season. The number of snakes kept
increasing to such an extent that the
young men in their terror maintain that
they must have encountered 15O or 200
snakes of the rattlesnake and blacksnake
varieties. Finally IL was noticed that the
snakes were fighting among themselves,
and on inspection it was seen that the
blacksnakes were attacking the rattlers,
and vice versa, both being warmed up 10
their working by the beating they had re-
ceived from the young men. Although
backsn kes and rattlers mngle with each
other during the long, cold winter months,
yet on the approach Of spring they separate
after deadly combat, wherein the black
snakes are sometimes victorious and the
rattlers on other occasions. A spitz dog
which followed the young men was an OBJ
ject Of especial hatred, and was soon COW
cred by the reptiles, which wound them
s,lves about his body and bit him to such
an extent that ho swelled to twice his nat
ural size. After fight Of about fifteen
minutes the men had everything their own
way, and over fifty were gathered up and
carried away as trophies Of the affray.
They were sold to an old medicine man,
who extracts the oil from the fat to sell to
persons afflicted with rheumatism, neural
gia, spraiDs, and other ailments. AS high
as five dollars per ounce is paid by those
who believe In the wonderful oerative
qualities of the snake-oll The young men
cut of the rattles Of many Of the snakes,
some having as high as fifteen or twenty,
and the snakes ranged in size from six
teen inches to six feet, one large black
snake, a perfect specimen, measuring a
trihe over six feet. Had II not been for
the fight between the rival snakes the
young men might have been dangerously
bitten. ...'.'.''... ...t''...