The herald. (Big Stone City, Dak. [S.D.]) 1883-1890, 1889-04-12
The Deadly CrOthIus.

buSI Awriter who was once head OF the
.rown lands department in the colony
Il Trinidad says In company with
,llalf-hlrcd who combined the voca-
A.. ions of Il woodman and hunter |
J UN tumblrd suddenly on large spec-
non of the erotaluS mutus slowly
Winding its way among the leaf debris
, Il the forest. For some time it was
litficnll to discern the scaly folds Of
lie SNAKE through the brown mass of
lecayng foliage, but, having reached
lclUar spot. the reptile coiIed around
low stump prepared for action.
n nAl,Out Il NHih Of the body next TO the
3ond was contracted into numerous
HARP curves not unllke Il curkscrew,
/ while The yellow eyes CLEANED with a
Vbaleful light
There was little fascination about
us, hcse orbs and no mistaking the ma
iynant intention of their owner. A
stick brought within reach of that
mortal coil was struck almost with the
rTrrrapidity of lightning, 40 matter how
! 1Uswiftly withdrawn. This was effected
by the instantaneous aightcning Of
CIT the short curves Into which this portion
of the body had been contracted
Even the willy mongoose would have
needed all his marvellous agility to
avoid the deadly stroke if once within
\ rnngc. The reach was about a yard
IN aud the assault was delivered horizon
NNMtnlly some six inches frum the ground
&SaEVtirccty toward the ass;,ilant. The
- l,mntcr VIII" had hitherto kept re-
Ilsr6ctful distance. rs he alleged the
~ snake could spring, was eventually
\ lpctsuadcd to approach sufficiently
. near to strike it with tcn-foot pole.
'.At the first blow the heavy coils re-
laxcd from the stump and the creature
appeared dead or stunned The
| j writer At once grasped the neck about
two inches from the head and raised
rnc, tho reptile partly from the ground to
"S cxatniic it. As though galvanized into
hon Ut" by the touch. the crotaius seemed
at once To recover its energies, and
IN swiftly made Il couple Of turns around
the thigh and right arm Of the would
be captor. The constructing power
exercised was such that the nand grasp
- ing the neck began to lose power. and
~ the writer realized the awkward pre-
II dicamcnt into which his temerity had
led him. Little could be done with
the free left hand. while the 'scaly
terror began slowly to Withdraw its
II head from the relaxing grasp Of the
~ right.
..For some seconds the trembling
inf; wOOdman appeared deaf to entrcaty
and could not be persuaded to apply 4
moose or llama to the snakes neck.
The largest serpents become paralyzcd
when properly nooscd, and are readily
| dragged along the ground helpless rs u
log. Just rs the snakes head seemed
about to oozc through the nnmbcd
fingers the half-brced screwed up his
courage sufficiently to apply the Llama
as directed. with the result that the
u brute 1T once relaxed its coils and was
dragged down to 4 nei ghboring stream.
hung up, and skinned. 1t measured
8 feet ard ) inches. and was about AS
thick in the largest part of lis body rs
the calf Of Il mans leg.
..The flnys, which were carefully
extracted. measured | inches in length
and were hollow to within 4 short dis
tance Of the point. where, on the inner
side. lay the oriiicc through which the
poison was elected by the action Of
the base Of the fang on the bag in
which it was sccrctcd. On squeezing
the bag small quantity Of poison. a
yellow fluid, passed down i'll the hol-
low tootn and gathered into tiny
drop of concentrated death. The
stomach contained two wood rats
about the size of guinea pigs, one
partially diycsted, the other recently
SWallOWcd." :"