Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-11-20

China SOW farmer Sohmer discovered by
| accident that It sheep-dOg of his had de-
veloped great talent as a snake hunter.
There Is an Old decayed and hollow stump
In one OF Sohmers fields to which the
farmer had never paid any attention. One
,tay In the spring he was passing by the
stump and was surprised to see MS dog ~
ing fat at one side of the stump. He was
more surprised still when he discovered at
one side of the dog heap OF snakes of var
lous kinds. As he stood looking the dog
gave sudden snap of his head forward
and when the head W IS drawn back again
the farmer saw that the dog had a snake
by the head, and was pulling the reptile
out Of the hollow stump. The dog crunch
ed the snake head. and laid the snake on
| tie pile at his side The farmer then
learned for the first time that the old stump
was headquarters for snakes. He did not
interfere with the dog, and during the
summer and fall the animal killed over
200 black snakes, milk snakes, copper
heads and other kinds OF snakes, either
as they were entering his hollow stump or
coming out of it. The next season the dog
killed a hundred more, and probably
would have been on the farm killing snakes
yet if the farmer had not wanted the space
occupied by the unsightly snake stump and
blew 1t up with dynimite. The blast kill
ed a good many snakes, and some escaped
it only to fail victims to the dog. After
the destruction of the stump, however, the
dog seemed to lose interest IN matters on
the farm, and one day he disappeared and
never came back.
Last tall arelative in Elmira presented
Farmer Sohmer little daughter with
Maltese kitten. The kitten beng city bred
had never seen 2 snake In her life. Last
spring, however, growing to be very
large cat meantime, she astOnished the
family By walking IN the house one day car
rying in her mouth very pretty green
snake. about a foot long. She held 1t by
the back of the head. anG the way the lit
tie reptile FASTENED to find a place of safety
when the cat placed it on the floor, showed
that she had carried it as carefully as if it
had been one of her kittens. The sight of
the snake, harmless as the reptile was,
frightened Mrs. Sohmer and her little
girl and they ran into another room. The
Cat played with the snake as if it had been
a mouse, and finally picked it up again
and carried it out doors. What she did
with it no one knew. A few days later
she came In with big water pilot, which
one of the family promptly killed, to the
evident displeasure of the cat Very few
days have passed since then that the cat
has not brought in from one to five snakes
from somewhere about the neighborhood
Up to last week she has brought in by actual
count 249 snakes of all sizes and kinds, ex-
cept rattlesnakes One day she startled
the family by bringing hideous blowing
adder on the kitchen floor, and her catch
of comprehends is large. Her biggest
feat was fetching in blacksnake five feet
long. She had plainly beer forced to do
combat with that big serpent, for she was
badly rumpled and squeezed. This shake
was dead when she came in with it, some
thing unusual in her captures. The snake
season being nearly over, the cat is paying
more attention to the mice around the
house. New York Sun.