The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-05-02
A SNAKE STORY.
A Wild, Weird Tale About Nan, Snake and
FireDrOOf Safe.

A Wild, Weird Tale About : Nan, Snake and
FireDrOOf Safe.
Twenty years ago I was the managing clerk
in an English merchants Office. NJ work was
heavy. Many nights / sat at my books until
into the small hours of the morning. Once or
twice l actually dOzed OF into a sleep, 20 be
awakened by the woman who cleaned the vari-
Gus rooms coming to her work.
The house was connected with had branch
establishment in India doing a large business,
and many curious eOnsignments of goods quite
outside of our usual articles of commerce.,
passed through cur hands. Priceless cloths
and native fabrics, brass and gold ornaments
set with precious stones, collections of stones,
botanical specimens, birds, animals-evsFy-
thing, IN fact, until at times the contents Of the
cases, If opened and spread out, would have
made very average museum.
One afternoon a large box was delivered from
one of the ships labeled To be kept in a mod
erately warm place" I was away from the
warehouse at the time of its arrival and the
men placed it in the outer office. On my re-
turn | casually noticed the case IN passing, and
saw that one end was slightly crushed, As if by
some heavier case falling on it. This was q
mere accidental observance.
My private Office was just four walls, hung
with maps aud charts. A writing bureau in
the center Of the floor behind the door; behind
the bureau a large iron fFeproOf safe some SIX
feet high and four feet square, standing - or
IA inches from the wall, and case Of books
and three or four chairs completed the inYeu-
/ tory. / was going to work late, and in a short
/ time was alone In the large building.
| worked steadily until midnight I arose
/ and paced about the room for few minutes.
| sound, as of chair being moved in the adj
| joining room, startled me.
/ / stepped to the door and opened it.
The light from a street lamp lit the room
/ fairly well, and after glance 1 concluded il
must have been fancy, and returned to my desk,
leaving the door open.
A few minutes sfterWard faint, harsh sound
came from the same direction, a curious rub
| bling sound, undeniabIy within the next room,
and quite as undeniably moving toward the
door leading to where | was sitting
/ rose to my feet, and as / did so the head
and neck of huge snake protruded through
| the doorway into Well-lit room.
l stood transfxed with horror.
When the reptile saw me it stopped for .
second, It's eyes grew more and more ahams IN
til they resembled two Iurid balls of FIRE, its
tongue darted in and out of its mouth, and the
| head raised higher and higher until nearly
/ level with my own. / could hear its body coll
| ing and reeoiling in fury IN the darkness be-
yOnd, and there / stood powerless, unaTmed,
and apparently unable even to move.
l looked once around in a despairing search
| for some outlet of escape, and, as took my eyes
from those of the horrible reptile it lowered it's
head and darted toward me. Another second
and it would have caught me, when, seeing the
open safe, / rushed in and shut the door A
small petty-cash book fell to the floor, half in,
half out of the safe, holding the door open
| about half an inch
But for that book would have speedily been
suffoeated. Not thinking Of that / stopped and
tried to draw the book inside but the snake
moving simultaneously with myself bad
dashed itself against the safe, and in It's brute
| fury, thinking the safe part and parcel Of N.Y.
self, had thrown its coils around it, compress
ing the door so tightly that / fortunately could
/ not remove the book, which was nv sole means
of ventilation. Half eTazed with fright pull
ed and logged at it without avail The perspi-
ration rolled down my face, my heart beat
almost to bursting, and even with the book
holding the door ajar / seemed to be st the
point of sufocatiOn. Gasping for breath and
I utterly nerveless, / fell against the door and
slid to the floor in a dead faint.
How long l renamed SO 1 cannot telI-per-
haps few minutes, perhaps an hour At last
my senses returned, and although dresdfally
| cramped by the position into which ] had sub
sided IN the narrow space, ! felt that / had not
| the power to rise, and lay there gazing through
the narrow opening at the two folds which
/ enciTcled my refuge, feeling horrible fascins-
ton that ] shall never forget. / even passed
/ my finger out and touched one, feeling quiV-
| ering movement that told me the reptile had
drawn its coils to their utmost tension, in the
hope of crushing the shell that held the pre-
eiOus kernel Of myself
By an effort l collected my ideas, and, re-
Numbering the box and the crushed end. could
readily account for the presence of the in
truder. l knew that it was customary 20 feed
them to safety before shipping, send them OF,
aud, as a rule, they arrived here still in the
state of stupor. This one might have had q
long passage, and coming out Of the sleep
wanted water. grew furious. burst the weak
end Of the case, and finding me attacked ma
by instinct.
grew ealmer and investigated my position
thoroughly. I rose to my feet, and as I did 50
my foot rested on something uneven. / picked
it up and found it to be one Of those long ink
erasers, having blade about four inches long
sharp as a razor, tempered like Damascus
blade the handle being about i've inches long
and fat in shape. It must have fallen out Of
the cash book, these knives frequently being
shut in the books by the careless clerks. Tax
ing the knife in my right hand thrust it into
the thInnest fold with al my strength There
was horrible sickening. tearing sound, and
quickly withdrawing the blade, I thrust II
again and again into the folds. until az tia
third or fourth stab I saw the folds relax and
90 sliding down the sides of thesafe TO the door
lying there squirming and Writhing in cOnvul-
si0ns.
dared not move for nearly an hour, until
all seemed quiet; then opening the door,
dashed across the room into the outer office
banged to the door, locked it, and, hatless
rushed to the nearest police station. At first
my story was discredited, and I was slmOs'
locked up as being drunk, but eventually fOul
officers armed with Tev0lvers came with me.
We found the reptile nearly dead, but still
tremulous when touched the cuts with the
keen knife, owing to the extreme tension OF
the coils, having nearly severed the body in
half It measured just 50 feet five inches from
head to tail
~ 1T W. -.