Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-12
A MONSTER ~cRoTALUS.
Mr. Drinkcr. of Scranton. Had a Ers,zy
Escape from His FanEs-


Mr.. 4. G. Drinkcr, Of this city. has
hepn an enthusiastic student Of natural
history since he was a small boy in the
beech woods Of Clifton fifty wears ago,
SAYS n Scranton. Pa, CORRESPONDENT Of
The y. Y. Sun. II hare had three very
narrow escapes from being bitten by
poisonous snakes said Mr.. Drinker
the other evening. .'aud in each case 10
WAS "a different variety OF reptile that
came mean giving me a dose. One nf-
tcruooH in August, a good many years
ago. | was tramping along near tho
Burnt bridge, with my rifle on my
shoulder, when / happened 10 see an
immense blackberry bush. loaded down
with dead ripe berries. 1t was MP the
bank a little way, and | stood my gun
up by a stump and went 20 the bush
The body of the bush was as thick as .
good-sized cone, and il lay within
few inches of the ground. / carefully
reached my fingers around il and
started TO pull the bush toward me
slowly. when | felt something pushing
and pulling on it. IL startled me q
good bit, and / let 20 of the bush and
watched. Something kept on shaking
it, but what il was | couldn't tell. i
NhS bDllllA " Hud buA' L4bN2u, &BGp
after a little, / poked the leaves away .
with a stick and got at the mystery.
The power that moved the bush was n
big rattlesnake. His fangs were fast
in the thick stem, half an inch from
where my fingers were when he struck
at me. and he had hunted and pulled
till there wasn't a berry left on the
bush. | didn't hear the least noise
while / had my fingers on the bush. and
/ was certain that the old fellow didn't
make his rattles buzz before be struck
Il wanted TO have a little fun with
him before | pounded the life out OF
him. and so | let him hang there and
hunted up a tough dead hemlock limb
Then / went back and gently touched
the snake on the head with the stick,
pulling the bushes apart so that he
could see me. That set him To rafting
and wriggling 10 the top of his
strength, and | never saw a madden
creature thar he was while | leased
him. His eyes blinked and his mouth
was as red as fire. After "A while 4
pried him loose and put the end of my
club where he could strike at it He
was a good fighter, and he drove his
fangS at the stick tive or six times, hit
ting it within a sixteenth of an inch
of the same spot zach time. By and
by the RATHER got tired of fighting the
club, and with his head and tail up he
made for me.
Just as he reached out. his head
flattened, his mouth opened TO its wild
est extent, and the fangs in his fiery
upper jaw cleaned. Then l gave him
a bat with the club that paralyzed him,
killing him with another blow. He
had thirteen rattles and a button and
was five feet long. l brought him home
and dissected him. and my sister has
the rattles vet. The poison sacks at
the roots Of his fangs were not larger
than small peas. In each one there
was a small drop of fluid that looked .
good deal like glycerine. There were
four distinct growths of fangs on each
side, one back of the other, SO that
when he shed one set there was another
set to take its place. The poison 10
I elected through a very tine hole At ths
point of the fang, n hole no larger than
that in the needle of q hypodermio
syringe. / have dissected many =.
rather since then, but l have
caught q finer one than he was.n