Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-10-03
A BATTLE WITH SNAKES.
of the Reptiles Besiege
Three Men in Camp.

Three Men in Camp.
Three men arrived here last night who
passed through an ordeal that is terri
BILE to contemplate, and their many
wounds go to show that the story they
tell is true and horrible in its details,
saws The Omaha World Herald. The
men are G. w. Smith and George H.
White, Jr., of Pueblo, and Thomas Nc
Cough, of Colorado Springs. They de-
tailed the account of their adventures
as follows:
Nine miles from the mouth of Elk
creek, between Newcastle, up the
stream, is a barren wilderness of scrub
by undergrowth and bowlders and
rocks and stones. To stand on the ver-
dant shores of this sea of waste land one
would naturally conclude that they
were many miles from nowhere, and,
for aught they knew, were the first to
discover this blank sea of waste, barren,
worthless fly-speck on the shirt front of
creation.
The men were on a fishing expedi-
tion, and started on Wednesday morn
ing from the mouth of the Minneatata
stream to wend and wade their way up
toward its source, when they reached
the spot above mentioned. There night
overlook them, and, having a lunch,
they built fire and made themselves
as comfortable as possible on the sur
face of a scraggy rock.
Being tired and foot sore, after their
scanty repast was devoured, they were
soon reveling in dreams that perhaps
are more or less pleasant to the mind
while fitting in the realms of such fan
cies.
One of the party had not been tangled
up with Morpheus long until he was
awakened by something choking him,
and, on feeling, found his strange collar
was cold and Shiny. 1t was very fine
specimen of the blacksnake which was
girdling his throttle in anything but a
loving embrace.
The monster was soon displaced, and
the party were about to lie down again
after Kidding themselves of his snake
ship, when they found by the aid of the
dying embers and the assistance offered
by the quarter moon that they were
literally sun ounded by snakes.
Two of the party proposed to decamp
for more congenial climes, but when
they were about to leave the rock they
found themselves tramping on living
sea of serpents. The Kissing and rat
tling became more audible, and it was
but few minutes before it was as loud
as ordinary toned voices.
The men, finding they were thus sur
rounded, broke branches from the stub
by underground of frs and commenced
lashing the writhing sea of darting,
kissing snakes.
Realizing that they had an all-night
job, they added fuel to the fire and COM
menced killing in earnest. The light
and noise seemed to awaken the whole
barren waste into Kissing and rattling.
Each began slaughter with re-
doubled vigor, vainly trying to fight
their way to the stream, some hundred
yards away down a sloping hill. They
would gain few PAGES of the distance,
only to be driven back again to the
rock.
The rattling and kissing became so
loud that their voices were not audible
unless close by. The sound was some
thing like four or five wheat separators
in operation at one time.
1t was terrible. The hair on their
heads was standing straight and stiff
like the wires on a patent hair brush.
Their hands and arms were blood
stained to their elbows, and the stencil
from the snaky battlefield was sicken-
ing in the extreme.
One hour after the first snake was
killed no less than 5000 lay slain, and
they kept coming thicker and faster.
The sound became more hideous and
soon the moon disappeared, and the
three fishermen felt that hell had sweet
er charms than the place it seemed
their fate to die in.
Two of the men were bitten, and
their legs and arms began to swell and
pain badly, and they frequently had to
rest and to permit one to do the killing
for all three.
The hours wore slowly by and the
slaughter was kept on rs best they
could. At last morning came and lift
ed the curtain of night from most ap-
palling scene. For fifty feet all around
the large rock lay heap of stunned,
squirming and dead snakes.
AS far as they could see all around the
barren waste was seething tide of rep
tiles that came toward the rock with
maddening fury. Concluding that they
might just as well earn death by dear.
er fate, they made ready to run for the
stream, thinking that ifthey gained the
other side they would have better
chance to care for their wounds.
Leaping as far as possible from the
rock they ran frantically toward the
stream, struggling, bitter and wild with
pain. They plunged into the water and
reached the other side, completely over
come by the terrible ordeal, just passed
through, and after some time bandag-
ed their bleeding and swollen limbs.
By evening they were sufficiently re-
covered to proceed on their journey
back to this place, and at last reaching
it they placed themselves in the hands
of competent physicians who are now
treating them.
They describe the snakes as being
specimens of all kinds, such as adders,
vipers, copperheads, rattlers, milk,
green and black snakes, as we'll as two
hoopsnakes and racers.