Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-02-16
90 as not to disturb the other snakes,
and in another minute had the big
monster out into the air.

ana In another minute mad the big
monster out into the air.
One of the assistants seized the loop
of its body, and the two bore it. trying
feebly to struggle. to the tub and
plunged it in. As soon as 1t struck
the warm water the serpent stopped
wriggling and sank in quiet enjoy
ment to the bottom. The chief and
the assistant did not let 60 of him.
They swashed him gently to and fro,
as a laundress rinscs out dress. They
kept him there perhaps ten minutes.
When they lifted him out the other at
tendants ran up with some towels and
gently rubbed the big creature off from
head to tail. When he was complete
ly dried off the chief gently insinuated
him into the cage again, and letting
go suddenly, jerked his hand out Of
the cage and shut the door.
"We 60 through this operation every
ten days" he said. "lf we didn't the
anaconda's skin would get dry. crack
open, and in short time he would
die 1t is a matter of absolute neces-
sity, and not of choice, you may be
sure. It's no fun to be Juggling the
big brutes around. Did you notice
how caught him by the back of the
neck? That is the secret of the whole
business. When you get hold of
snake there he is practically powerless
In the first place. he doesn't know
what to do unless he can get his head
around so that he can see what is 60
ing on behind him. In the next place,
the pressure on the spinal cord and its
delicate nerves deadens the sensibility
and partly stupefies the snake. You
know that man who is hanged feels
no pain after the drop falls even if his
neck is not broken, because of the
pressure of the rope on the nerves of
the neck. If l should grab him six
inches back of where l do, there would
be the liveliest thrashing and pounding
around that cage you ever heard of,
and six men like me couldn't hold the
crazy creature"
Suppose one of your snakes should
get away, what would you doP"
1T wouldn't worry us any. That's
happened lots of times. As long as
the snake doesn't crawl out into the
cold and endanger his precious life we
don't care a snap. We just throw a
blanket over his head, and, while he is
confused and struggling with it, a
couple of us rush in and get him by
the neck and put him into his cage in
jiffy. / remember" continued the
hoarse-voiced man, ian experience l
had with a black-snake many years
ago. was sailing about with one
companion among the sloughs and
lagoons Of the Upper Mississippi-a
region that used to swarm with the
reptiles. We were rowing along one
day close to the bluff shores of little
island where the water had followed
out holes in the mud--just the place
for black-snakes to crawl and sun
themselves. We came all at once to
one hole very much bigger than the
Others, where there was great mass
of the reptiles-it looked as though
there was thousand of them-all tied
up in knot together. OF course, it
would never do to miss such royal
chance for fun as that, so each
Of us took an oar and stuck into
the black mass at the same
time. There was such a wriggline
and twisting of shining black bodies
as you never saw in your life, and
snakes went wriggling off in every di
rection. We damned them with the
oars whenever we could see them, and
were having great sport, when all of 4
sudden heard my companion give s
scream of terror and plunge over
board. Before could understand tn,
cause of it big black-snake hac
wound itself around me. tore at i
with my fingers. but its muscles wer,
like iron. In spite Of MI my struggles
it squeezed harder and harder. TIL,
miserable thing was actually squeezing
the life out of me. My breath came
short. my ears sang. and every thing
swan before me. Igave up and fel
down. That saved my life. The snak,
had wound itself about the oar as wei
as about me, and when / fell the oa
crushed him just back of the head. Ny
companion fished himself out of tn,
water when he saw the snake wa
dead. So much for o black-snake
How much show do you think mar
would have against one of these fel
lows here, who is twenty times a
strong as black-snakep"
do snakes in captivity ever SHOW
any attachment for their keepersP"
well, I've read that they do, an,
some people have told me so, but
never saw the slightest evidence of it
! have known snakes that have BEEF
under the daily care Of one charmer
as they call them. for ten years, to b
Just as dangerous at the end of tina
time as they were at the beginning
Snakes have no affections, that's m
opinion, and not much sense. l don
want any of them for pets, notwith
standing my twenty-five years eA
perience as a chief snake-hunter. "
~ T. Commercial Advertiser.
4
J MA. demonstrated Bobby, 'whe