Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-16
ABOUT SNAKES.
The First Installment of Reptile Stories
for the Season of 1886.

AAO II y 1NCRSIAc 0GOTAO6
for the Season of 1886.
A woman living at Reno, New, has
inst been relieved of four snakes, which
were growing fat in her stomach while
she grew thinner and thinner from day
to day. The largest of the reptiles is
said to have been three feet in length.
While entertaining some callers re-
Gently, q Georgia lady picked a few
roses from a bush in her garden and
was bitten by diminutive snake which
was coilcd around a bud. Further
search revealed a colony of small rep
tiles which had taken refuge in the
rosebud'during the recent blizzard and
We're just awakening from their torpor.
After having been treated for years
by the best physicians for internal
pains which were thought to be
produced by a cance in the
stomach, the wife of a Cleveland
contractor has Just been relieved of y
small but vigorous lizard by an Indian
medicine man belonging to st. Xav-
ier's mission, in Arizona. The reptile
was of u species common to the East,
and it is supposed that it was swallowed
by the lady while she was drinking at
a brook neac Phillipsburg, N. S.. years
ago.
Mr.. A. H. Cooper, a Texas farmer,
walked into the office of a Dallas news
paper and, unwinding a yearling rattle
snake from his neck, offered it in part
payment of his subscription. 1t is said
that MI. Cooper's weakness for r%attlers
which, by the way, is inherited, has
grown on him to such degree that the
bric-a-brac which adorns the interior of
his cabin is made up to a great extent
of the fangs, rattles and stuffed skins
of departed pets. The yearling in ques-
ton was the first offspring of a once
highly priced RATHER, which died ~ few
months ago to the owners great sor-
row.
That great sea mystery, the great sea
serpent, has apparently just made its APP
pearancei in South African waters. Ac-
cording to late mails from the Cape the
huge monster was recently observad in
Morewood's Bay, Umhlali, by eight OF
nine people. It was first seen seven
or eight miles from the shore, SWIM
ming in a very erect manner, and APP
pdIcllCly PAoCCcuiiiS uo CAo A"eo -
eight or nine miles an hour. Occasion
ailyi it plunged into the water, making
a noise as if a sea were breaking heav-
liz on an open shore, and flashing the
water into foam for yards around.
Fins like immense oars protruded
from all sides. Its length was com
puted at from ninety to M hundred
and sixty feet.
Workmen who were engaged in tax.
ing up a water pipe at Bullville, N. Y.
recently came upon a nest OF thirty
five snakes of different kinds and sizes.
The reptiles wore torpid and were east
ly gathered into a bag and stored away
for future use. Later in the day the
same workmen discovered a colony of
r~attlers neal a deserted spring and put
them in with the other snakes. In the
evening the bag with its contents was
taken to the village tavern and placed
on the kitchen range to- thaw out.
while a throng of men, each armed
with q stick, eagerly awaited develop
ments. Soon the heat had its effect
and suddenly the mass Of struggling,
writhing reptiles broke from the bag
and darted wildly around the room,
where they were soon dispatched:
Only one of the men was bitten, and
snake-bite cure soon healed his wound.
Cleveland Leader.
In erecting scaffoldings for the use
of workmen in building houses, the in
ronious ~.Jananesa hind tha nartc firmly