Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-17

Bruce, Of cambridge, says that one OF
the first things be learned after com
ing to this section from Virginia
was not to bet on gophers. He was
boarding with old Mr.. Peabody, who
had field Of corn and peas on new
ground near town. The old gentleman
complained terribly Of the gophers,
and one morning at the breakfast'table
said he was going to catch one which
was doing him special damage. "How
are you going to catch him. Dir. Pea
body?" said the young doctor. 4" |
am going to bury box At
the mouth Of his den, sir, and
about III o'clock he will come
out to feed, and will tumble in, and
I will have him." The young Vir-
ginian laughed at the idea. I'm bet
you q dollar a gopher is not that big q
fool" said he. "Good," said the old
gentleman, and the money was put up.
The box was duly set at the mouth of
the gopher-hole, and both gentlemen
went on about their business down
town. A little after ii o'clock DR..
Bruce remembered the bet, and slipped
off down to the field to see for himself.
His own words tell the rest "rll be
hanged if the old fool wasn't
in the box, sure enough. / then
put him back in the hole,
and with long pole pushed him as
far down as could, giving him all the
hard thrusts thought necessary to
make him stay there, | then went back
down town and hunted Mr.. Pea
body, who had forgotten all about the
gopher until ! reminded him that it
was past the gopher's dinner hour.
Sure enough said he, come and go
with me, want my dollar Mr..
Peabody, I'll bet you another you
don't get him. Good. I'd rather
win 81 than ell When we arrived at
the gopher's hole I'll be hanged if he
wasn't in the box again. lost my
money, and make it rule never to bet
on a gopher"
1t will not do to bet anything about
them, except that they can run faster
than anything in the shape Of them on
earth. They hibernate in their burrows,
and how long they can live without food
is a question yet unsolved. Colonel R.
j. Bacon tells Of one which was placed
on his back on stump by an old planter
in Liberty county and there left to die.
Just twelve months afte-ward the gen.
tleman passed that way, and there was
his gopher still alive. Yet the Florida
people say that if put on their backs in
the hot sand they will die in few
moments. Mr.. }. Il. Collins tells of
one which was shut up under chin
ney for seven years, and was known to
remain alive without food all that time.
A negro man in bis neighborhood kept
one shut up for four years.
Don't bet on the rapidity of their
growth or the shortness Of their lives.
Mr.. j. W. Pearce says in his fathers
yard on Tired creek there was a little
gopher, who at first was about the size
Of silver dollar. lie was fond Of the
rose leaves which fell from the bushes.
The gopher lived there seventeen
years, and was then only about as
large as common terrapin. Col
onel c. o. Davis says there was in old
times a settler in Decatur county who
lived alone on his place with no other
neighbor but a gopher. They both
lived there fifty years, and the settler
concluded to go away, and, taking the
title-decds Of his land, he thrust them
into the gopher's hole, saying that he
thought the gopher's title better than
anybody's, and the gopher might live
there longer, but he couldn't.
And now another lawyer says that
one way to kill them is to see them in
their holes by light reflected from
looking-glass and shoot them. An
other lawyer, Hon. W. n Spence, says
a gopher was known to live in
dry well on the James Cochran place
for two years while his father lived
there. The well was dug about
forty feet, when rock was struck
and it was abandoned. And now hear
the Doctor on gophers. DR.. b. |. A.
Gull says lie aud DI. Hopkins under
took to kill one by poison on Spring
creek. They gave morphine, arsenic,
stIychine, and prussic acid without
effect. Do you hear that? The
gopher may be living yet. Mr..
NJ. W. Broadway says one was
shut up for two years on his
place under a smoke-house, and lived
two years when the dogs unearthed him.
His children kept one as pet two
years, and he would eat odd bits of
crockery whenever he could get them.
Mr.. Joe Ellis says that when the great
flood of 1879 suddenly raised Ever
green pond a freedman on his place
gathered up wagon-load Of about
forty refugee grophers who were seek