St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-14
He Warns UP a Den of Rattle
Snakes and Watches Them
While They
Engage in a Regular Old
Fashioned SnoW-Balling
Party on the Hillside.
Jim Shoots the King Snake
and His Widow MournS
His Death Grievously.

WHeTe w nlte rlNeI HAS uNllulcu lIllO
such little stream that it can almost be
stepped across, except when swollen by
freshet. OF the fifty inhabitants of
Roaring River there are but dozen
full-grOwn and able-bOdied males. But
to-day they had all gathered at Simp-
sons combination general merchandise
store and grocery, and were listening
in Open-mOuthed wonder to the story
told by old jim Bridger, a relic OF piO-
neer days and an own cousin OF the we'll
known scout and trapper. jim had just
returned from the
OZARK MOUNTAINS,
where large game can still be found at
rare intervals. The blizzard that set i'll
just after Christmas had come bowling
down into section rarely visited by
such severe weather, and a genuine
snow storm, lasting through the night,
had surprised the Oldest inhabitant.
and ceased only after the ground had
been covered to depth of several
inches, writes the Roaring River, Mo-,
correspondent of the Cincinnati En-
quirer. Jim was exposed to the storm,
and told his listeners it was the worst
he had ever known in Southwest Mis-
souri,, and reminded him of some OF the
old-timers on the plains, when he had
seen his comrades perish one after an
other. victims of the fearful freezing
blasts.
but 'twan't the storm that fetched
me up standin'," said Jim. Il seed
Suthin' that skeered me so believe Eve
groWed gray-headed."
Jim laughed and so did his hearers,
for his head was innocent of hair except
a little fringe here and there. But jim
quickly checked his own hilarity and
waved his hand impatiently for the gap
ing villagers also to cease.
What seed" he began slowly and
SOlemnly, '1'm gwine to tell you unS
about. Mebbe none'll b'lieve it, but
you'd better, fur old Jim Bridger don't
member of so very many fellerS that's
knockin' round the yearth just at pres
ent who got the idear inter their heads
that he'd been a-tamperin' with the
truth and he'd the cheek to say SO. Well,
Christmas day and Monday, too, I'd
BEEN LoAFIN' ROUND
'thout much luck, fur games gittin'
skaser and skaser, an bimeby thar'll
not even be rabbit lief. l mOZeyed
round till putty near shutdown, Mon
and began to SNOW, kinder wet and lazy
like, as if knowin' 'twant no place fur
the 'butiful,' way down in this kentry.
l knowed of a little hole in the rocks a
mile or so furder on, an TUX bee line
fur it, gittin' thar jest afore dark.
scraped some old logs together an built
up rOarn' fire at the back of the cav
ern, agin the rocks. | seed thar war a
little crack up We bout as high as my
head, an / noticed the smoke war
kinder DRAWN inter it. an thought to
myself, 'What a bully chimbly | got,
made to order, an then turn on few
more logs an went ter sleep. Bout
o'clock l woke, feelin' pOw'ful hungry.
kicked the Goals together. piled on
more wood an soon he'd the biggest kim
of fire agin; then shouldered my gun
and struck out just after sun-up, trying
to fin suthin' with pOppin' over fur my
brekfuSt, an all the time thinkin'
what bully bed of Goals thar'd be fur
me to cook it on. Wall, | KEEP goin' on
and on, an twas nigh on to 10 o'clock
afOre | managed to pop over even a rab-
bit. Seem'd so all the gained gone
inter thar holes when the snow kim,
sides twas gittin' so tarnal sloppy that
most everything but burned fool
knowed 'nuf to keep inside. The sun
was gittin' hotter an hotter, and meltin'
the snow like SO much wax when /
tramped back to the cave, bout as mad
at myself an the rest of the folks as l
ginerally git. Bout
A HUNDRED YARDS FROM THE HOLE
the woods cleared away, an thar wuz
an open spot clean up to the spot whar
I'd camped. l did what I've always
done afore steppin' out inter the clear
in, tux a Squint all over it, kinder quick
like, jest from habit.
''May | be durn'd if / ever expect to
live to see another sich sight. 1t made
me stop in my tracks like I'd suddenly
friZ stiff.
''Mebbe what say wont be b'Iieved,
but then jest remember my remarks a
few minnits ago, will We? Not more'n
| twenty yards from me wuZ half dozen
of the biggest rattlesnakes l ever seed,
and they wuZ actin jest the queerest
| A wh0pper that must hev bin ten feet
long wuZ nearest to me. an he'd jest
| settled himself down in the sluShy snow
when | Spied him. He wuz wrigglin
round an round, an then all of a sud
| dint he seemed to be tryin' to tie hisseli
inter big knot. Then l noticed the
rest of the rattlers goin' through the
same kind of motion. l looked up the
hill bout fifty yards and thar wuZ an
other gang of 'em goin' On at the same
rate. an then l got my eyes sci
OH the cave, an it was jest
a swarming with reptiles. To save me
l couldn't make it all out for few min
uteS. Then all of a suddint the fust
Teller I'd seed stiffened up like he wuz
a-tryin' to STAN on his head, an no
ticed thar wuz white knot onto the
eend of his tail bout as big as my fist
on his head for second or two, anC
then the knot flew off of the tip of his
tail and went kerWhiz! straight as &
| rife ball at the other gang o. snakes
| Then 'nuther and 'nuther jumped III
an went through jest the same action
the fellers Oh the hill firm back an {
gettin' in their work jest as lively a.
the crowd neardeSt me, while up at the
cave thar commenced such a rattlins
that it seemed to me that drum corps
had let loose all of suddint.
''Then 'twar all clearer'n' daylight t,
to me. I'd been
CA3IPIN' IN DEN O. RATTLESNAKEl
who'd crawled inter hole l though
was SIGH a good chimbly, intendin, t.
stay thar all winter. But my fire het
kinder thawed 'em out durin' the night
an when I'd piled on SIGH big lot @
logs in the mOrnin' afOre | sot out o:
my tramp I'd finished the job an go
'em jest as lively as if 'twar dog days
They'd swarmed outen the rocks an
findin' the damp snow Oh the groun,
he'd organized a regular Snowballln
party, dividin' off jest like passed. G
SchOOlboys, while the little fellers al
the females was the aujience, an stat
up to the cave.
"Wall, they kept it up fur almost a
hour. Every time one was hit he'd he
to Cross over to 'tother side, purvidiT
his own crowd didn't pop him ,agi
while he was wrIgglin' through tn
slush. Oncet in a while the balls u
be flynn so thick could skasely see tn
reptiles, an then the internal rattlil
up at the hole 'ud be louder'n ever, jes
like crowd at a sukkus clappin' tina
hans an stampin' when the clown sal
Suthin' funny.
"Fur long time twas nip an tue
tween the sides, an then the gan
neardest me seemed to hev streak {
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