The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-11
BUSHELS OF SNAKES.
a Remarkable Phase of the Western
Floods.
From the St. Loufs Globe Democrat.

| houses l o the piles or drlftWoOd clunS
thousands of insects that had been disturbed
in their assaults upon the potatoes, corn and
sDring wheat. The potato bug, with his
| yellow stripes and meek appearance, was
| there by the thousands The clinch bug,
| cut-worm and sWarms of other insects and
vermln seemed as happy and contented as
though browsing upon their favorite vega
| tation. While we were examining these
objects farmer pulled up in a skiff and
| greeted us:
| "Lookin' at the vermints, are yea S'pose
| we think that the big water'l drown 'em
| out, don't ye. Well, it won't, you kin bet
on it. Them pesky bugs and worms don't
give up the ghost so easy. They just climb
on log, a fiOatin' cornstalk or anything
that comes along and sing Life on the
| Ocean Waves" as tremendously as a class
of 12-years-olds at a country singin
school. Why, they'll float down on them
sticks an stalks till they land on high
ground somewhere down In Calhoun county,
and when they do arrive on land again,
with the appetite that a few days driftin' IL
| give 'em, they'll just raise h with the
| upland farmers growin crops. Everything
else may drown, but a tater-bug seldom,
and chinch-bug never"
Just as the farmer had finished his dis
sertation on the insect family and we had
set our oars for a pull through piece
1
claimed:
Keep yer eyes peeled fer snakes-the
| bushes is full ov EN-"
| Thinking nothing of what the farmer said
| about snakes, but intent on investigating
| further, we soon shot away from the drift
| wood across a stretch of open water and
into the deep shadows of the timber where
the current gained some impetus from a
channel that wound its way under the foli
| age, and darted out across the plain beyond.
| The boughs hung low, many dabbling their
| leaves in the water. Suddenly the bow of
| of the boat came in contact with a
small tree, and in an instant the air, the
water and the boat were alive with snakes.
| Not the little, puny, angle-worm kind, but
| big, lusty fellows that stood on their dig
nifty and disputed our right to thus wantonly
intrude upon the seclusion of their retreat
while they were enjoying a delightful sun
bath in the softly-swiDging boughs OF the
little maple.
Here was a situation calculated to make a
man addicted to stiff brandy nightcapS and
early morning coctaiis begin to think that
| the mission of the temperance crusader IS
not mere sentimentahty.
Snakes of fancy may be bad enough,
but here was tile genuine article, squirming
and writhing ready to fight to a finish and
contest every inch Of the way, not according
to the Lond IN prizering rules, in 24-foot
| ring but within the narrow confines of
24-foot skiff. Quick action and aggressive
| movements soon won the battle, and nine
snakes paid the penalty with their lives for
| the bold stand they made against our com
bined assault with eight-pound ash oars not,
| however, until a vicious specimen of the
| moccasin family had set his fangs deep into
the correspondents rubber boots, and an
exceedingly agile blue-racer made bold at
| tempt to conceal himself In the ample trou-
ser's leg of the artist.
The uautls over, the first thought was to
back the skiff out, for a glance at the bushes
| and trees in front of us showed that whole
batttaion of the serpentine army were stir
ring the leaves in a threatening manner, as
they cotled and uncoiled their repulsive
bodies about the branches. Although we
| had won the preliminary skirmish, we did
not care to follow up the victory, and the
| old chestnut about discretion being the bet
| ter part of valor was adopted, and we eau
tiously pulled out into the open water and
rowed around the little neck of timber. 1t
seemed Gs if every place that could hold a
snake was taken possession OF. Some of the
serpents were coied up and looked like large
rubber balls or very big birds nest among
the leaves; others lay stretched out at full
length upon the limbs, while others hung
down and swayed to and fro like piece of
rope hanging to a limb Occasionally one
more daring than the rest could be seen TAX
ing morning ablution in the cooling
waters Blue-racers and moccasins, with a
few little garter-snakes, made up the as
sortment but as to numbers we did not feel
like taking the time to count, nor did our
curiosity urge us strongly enough to pene-
trate again into the snake stronghold.
The farmer, whom we soon overhauled
again, explained the presence of SO many
snakes in this particular spot by relating
the fact that the piece Of timber was on
pretty high ground, and that when the
water first came rushing into the bottoms
the snakes fled to the elevation, but when
the overflow crept up and covered the
ground they took to the bushes and trees
Come" said the farmer, "Ill take you
where snakes roost thickern flies in a sum
mer kitchen"
Acting on this suggestion we soon pulled
up near submerged dwelling, with the
caves at the back just few inches above
the water. We were hardly prepared for
the scene that met our gaze at this point.
Over the roof, stretched out at full length,
were snakes of various kinds and sizes We
counted 200 silken-backed moccasins and a
large number Of black-snakes, garter-snakes
an blue-racers. These we're on the root,
! while coiled about the tin leader and hang
ing over the window sill on the sunny side
of the house were hundreds more APP
preaching the house from the north side we
looked through an open window into the
second story. mere was Deu IN one cor
ner and lot OF miscellaneous household
effects strewn about in confusion. On the
bed lay big cat apparently asleep, while
lust under the southern window, where the
J sunshine crept IN, lay shepherd dog
J and close beside him. cooled up in the patch
} Of sunshine, was big rattlesnake. The
dogs body was swollen out Of shape, and
it took but glance to discover that he was
dead.
, BIT by that cussed RATHER" said the
farmer. Poor old Bobl' he sighed. "Died
at his post ov duty like a brave soldier
He wuz one ov the best and smartest dogs
that ever wagged his tail on the Sny bot.
, toms. I'll kill that darned snake, or h.ll
kill me-"
Without further comment the farmer
climbed into the window, armed with long
, oar. The snake Immediately prepared to
retreat but before he was fairly uncoiled
ten pounds Of well-seasoned ash came
crashing down upon his body, and mo-
ment more the music of the reptiles rat
ties ceased, and the farrper picked up the
body with the oar and threw it out the win.
dow.
so intent was the dogs avenger on dis