The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-11-08
FoUE-FoorED SNAKE HUNTERS.
The Sport in tnat Lie Which Farmer
sohmer's Hog, Dog and Cat Enjoy.

= ne sport n tcet Lie W hlcn Farm er
sohmer's Hog, Dog and Cat Enjoy.
/ from ne Ner York Sun.
! GAINESVILLE, Pa, Vow. There seems
/ TO be something in the atmosphere at
Jacob Sohmer's farm, nsar the headwater
/ OF Rock Run, five miles from here. that
I prompts domestic animals Of Sohmers 10
! spend their spare time hunting
| snakes. The locality is noted for
( being a favorite one for rattlesnakes,
and one man. Reu5en FaatZ, hes for
several years picked up a number Of dollars
annual = aptuTing rattlesDakes and selling
their skins and oil, and frequently filing an
| order for a collection OF live raItlerS The
/ antsgonism Of swine 20 snakes is well known
/ IN regions where snakes abound, the hog
being the only animal, it is
| cisimed, upon which the bite
I of the rattlesnake has no effect whatever.
| Three years ago Farne: Sohner discovered
/ that Poland-China 50 Y OF his was In the
/ habit CT absenti1g herself from the farm
/ Tor an hour or two at q time every day or
I 50. Ole day he saw her enter the woods
and he followed her. She took q course
/ toward a dry bog meadow alolg Rock Run,
and when she got 70 ths meadow she went
slowly and cautiously along its edge. The
farmer followed quietly behind her.
/ and she had gone Only a few rods
| when she made q sudden dash among the
| bogs. Size pranced around for "a moment
and then came out, dragging a big rattle
I snake which she held Just back Of the head
| IN her mouth. Returning to the edge Of
the bog, she planted her feet on the wrig
! Cling snake and tore II IN t%o. Then SIZE
/ Lit the head OF and cast il aside, and
! deliberately devoured the remainder Of
4 the RATHER. After eating the snake
/ the Old SOW started on again. and hal not
| gone far when she dashed into the bog
| and came out Wit another rattlesnake,
| which she treated in the same manner
! Farmer Sohmer saw his porcine snake
! hunter gobble up tea big rattlesnakes in
the course of al hour aud then returned
home. The SOW came In an hour later,
| grunting contentedly, and went to sleep in
her corner on the raJtlesnake feast
| Sohmer, of course, spread the news
| of the snake-dsstroying proclivities
| of his SOW, and she was admired
| by every body except old Rsu-
ben Faatz. He was plainly not pleased with
the way the hog was encroaching on the
snake preserves, for the reason that she
was taking possible good money away from
him. One day, a few weeks after Sohmer
discovered what took his SOW to the
woods SO often, the SOW went away and
| did not come back. The farmer made
q search for her the next day and found
! her in the wo DIS two miles away.
| She was dead. TIE heads of nine rattle
snakes were scattered about her. Sohmer
| at first thought that she might have been
! bitten by one or more Of the snakes she had
| captured, and had died from the effects.
| Closer inspection disproved that theory at
| once. A bullet hoe over her right eve
| showed that sue had been shot to death.
| There was never but one opinion as to who
| shot her. She had undoubtedly fallen a
| victim to old Rsu3el Faatz's rife. She was
| killing TOO many rat,lers for the old mans
| good.
| Not long ntlsr the death of the Poland
| China SOW Farmer Sohmer discovered by
| accident that a sheep dog OF his had de
| veloped great talent as a snake hunter.
! There is an old dacayed AID hollow stump
in one of Sohmer's feds to which the
| former had never paid any attention. One
| day 10 the spring be was passing by the
| stump, and was surprised to see his dog
! lying fat at one side Of the stump. lie was
more surprised still when he discovered at
one side Of the dog @ heap of snakes of
| various kinds. As ne stood looking toe dog
| gave a sudden snap of his head forward and
when the bead wa drawl back again the
farmer saw thai ne dog bad snake by the
head, and was pulling the reptile out Of the
hollow stump. lac dog cTunoDed the snakes
| head ana laid the snake on the pile by his
side. The farmer taen Learned Tor the frs
time that the old stump vas headquarters
! FOR snakes, lie did net Interfere with the
| dog, aad during the summer and fall
tho animal killed over 200 b.scx-
SNAKES, nllls SNAKES. copperheads and
other kinds of snakes. either as
they were entering this hollow stump or
coming cut of it. The next season the dog
| killed a hundred more, and probably would
have been on the firm killing snakes yet if
the farms" had not wanted the space occu-
| pied by The un.ightly snake stump and
! blew il no with dynamite The blast killed
e good many snakes, aud some escaped it
! only 10 fall victims 10 the dog After the
| destruction of the stump. howcver, the dog
! seemed t. lose interest in matters on the
| farm, and one day he dsa ppesred and never
| came back.
Last fall q relative in Ellnira presented
| Farmer Sohmer'S little daughter with q
Maltese kitten. The kitten, being city bred,
had never seen a snake in her life. last
spring, however, having grown to be q very
! large cat meantime sue astonished the
/ family by walking in the house one day
! carrying IN her mouth very pretty green
| snake, about foot long. She held it by
| the bsck of the head. aid the way the little
I reptile nastened to ind place Of safety
| when tie cat placed it on the floor showed
| that she had carried it as carefully
as if il had been one of her own belples
kittens. The sight of tbs snske. harmless
as tue lSpViie Nusa trlE uOSdeo MIS- CONNER
and her little girl, Il tley ran into an
| other room. The cat played with the
snake as it it hai been a mouse, and finally
| picked it up again and carried Is outdoors.
| What she did with it no one knew. 4 few
! days later she came in with big wate,'
pilot, which one of e family promptly
! killed, TO tire evii Dent displeasure Of the cat
Very few days have passed since then that
the cat has not brought in from cue
| 20 five snakes from somewhere about
the neghborhood. Up TO last week
she had brought in by actual count 289
! snakes OF all sizes and kinds, except rattle
/ snakes One day she startled the family b :
LAYING a hideous blowing adder on tie
| kitchen floor, aud he. catcA of copperheads
! is la &c. Her biggest feat was fetching III
i a biackqnake five feet long She had plalnly
| been forced TO do COMBAT with that big
! seIpant, for she was badly rumped and
squeezed and this snake was dead when soc
/ came III with it, something unuslal in her
/ captures. The snake season being nearly
! over, the cat i laying more atten ton TO
| the mice about the house.
Generosity OF Dog.
7 \ Ear. lo4s who f1iScoursoS Of U'Tb q