News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-05-09
A SNAKE-KILLING SOW.
Its Fat Cheeks Turned to Receive g
Rattler's Venomous Fangs.

Moodna is a low-lying, unattractive
settlement, rather th;ckly inhabited, on
the MlddletOwn branch of the West
Shore Railroad, little above Cornwall,
N. L., and not more than quarter of a
mile below the secluded glen called
Paradise. The river that waters Para
disc flows darllly through Moodna, but
1t Is hmpld, sparkling stream at the
upper point, and little better than q
! cesspool at the lower one. There is no
trail OF the serpent in Paradise, but
Moodna is rich in snakes, and would
have still greater wealth of them were
1T not for the untiring efforts of Mr..
Sam Tarson's SOW. She kills the rep
tiles, and though her appetite at the
sw1ll tub is unimpaired, she eats snakes
with great gustO, and leaves nothing but
the bones behind. For reasons known
only to herself, she picks off the flesh of
her Hrey, and eschews the osseous por-
t1Ons. Moodna is proud of larson s
SOW, and the surrounding hamlets would
like to borrow her when snakes multiply
too rapidly; but she has all the work she
can attend to at home.
Ot course, most of the snakee that in
fest Moodna are comparatively harmless,
and the sturdy SOW fearlessly casts her
400 pounds ofadipose matter upon them,
and, regardless of their bites, stamps
and gnaws their lives out. The adjacent
mountain of Storm King, however, has
many recesses that are the homes of
rattlesnakes With the first breath of
spring they emerged, hungry, venomous
and very wicked, and larson, aided by
Zach Archer. the professional snake
catcher, secured large one and deter
mined to test the power of his pet as it
had never before been tried.
He led the SOW into the barn, where q
soap box containing the snake had been
placed upon the floor. Then he climbed
upon ratter, so as to be out of harms
way, and, by pulling string, raised
door which he had made in the box.
Instantly the snake glided out, and at
once sa the SOW. It threw itself into
a coil, its eyes giittered. it hissed vicious
ly, and it was ready and eager for bat
tie. The SOW also saw the snake, as her
subsequent actions indicated; but it is
doubtful if the reptile ''saw that she
saw it, " for no pig undergoing the pro-
cess of fattening in the hog pen ever
seemed more guileless than did she as
she trotted around the barn, apparently
i'll search of bad potato or a rotten APP
pie. She was narrowing the circle, how
ever, and each revolution brought her
nearer to her hereditary enemy.
At last she stopped moving, and look
ed straight at the snake. Quick as
lightning flash the reptile struck at her,
but the SOW knew her business. With
equal celebrity she turned her head half
around, and the poisonous fangs sank
into her left cheek. For q moment the
snake writhed around the sow's snout,
and she tried to seize it, but it dropped
to the ground unharmed, and. with
amazing rapidity, resumed its coil. The
SOW seemed to be cha9rined. She ad-
vanced step, and as the snake struck
fercely at her for the second time she
obeyed the Scriptural mandate, and,
having been smitten on one cheek, she
turned the other to her assailant. She
changed her tactics on this occasion,
usII did 1IOG attoInpU ~ IfIC1 piIo sHitt-G
while it retained its hold; but the in
slant 1T dropped she pounced upon it,
and grasping it by the neck she pirned
its ugly head to the ground and Played
tattoo upon its body with her feet.
She was not materia 'ly injured by the
bites she had received, for the venom
wasted itself in the thick layers of fat
that underlined her cheeks, and it could
not reach any vital part of her anatomy.
The snake was soon dead, and Mr.. Tar
son clambered down from the rafter,
hoping to secure the body as trophy of
his pets victory; but the SOW was in no
mood to brook interference. She felt
that to the victor belonged the spoils,
and her blood being up, and little of
it running from each cheek, she drove
her owner from the barn. When he re-
turned fifteen minutes later she was in
a more amicab.e frame of mind, and she
had made n skeleton of the snake as
skillfully as if the job had been done by
o taXidermist-Ne7 York San.