Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-09-11
rwo FlENplsH SNAKES.
Disturbed in Their Native Wilds in Hin.
dOstan.

Disturbed in Their Native Wilds in Hin
dostan.
If we have any fault it is credulity.
Worshiping truth ourselves. we believe
it exists in all others, and we would
sooner pin our faith to stories of the
Munchausen order, were they told as
verities, than call into question the
veracity of the narrator. We believe,
says the Utica Globe, that skepticism
has made sad inroads upon many of the
pure beliefs and sweet romances of our
childhood, and has so weakened the
public mind that sensual evidence is
necessary for the belief of many every
day occurrences. We have actually
been confronted with the matter-of-
fact gentleman who denied that
Madame Guesclin's cat died of volun-
tary starvation over the loss of his
mistress; we were panied when pro-
sale person told us that John jones'
dog did not suicide at his masters
grave when the kind hands that used
to feed it were folded and still, and
our passions were so infiamed that We
barely escaped preparatory exam
ination for the insane asylum when
it was denied that the road birds
of the Southwest kill their mortal
enemies - snakes by piling cactus
thorns around them and then sounding
40 alarm so that by the wriggling of
the reptiles the prickly spines may
penetrate to the death. For skeptics
of this class we have only commisera-
ton; we would not take them into our
confidence for moment, but leave
them in their barrenness to perish like
an apple-seed on rock. But for an
other class of readers we will narrate
singular occurrence that reaches us
from India. the land of the Hindoo re-
igion, of interminable forests and of
snakes. AS is known since the Eng
ish established themselves i'll India,
the natives have made progress in
many of those things that contribute
to the conveniences and the joys Of
life, and where formerly half-naked
postman, ringing bell, was the sole
means of communication between vii
lage and village, the snort of the loco
motive is now heard awakening the
echoes of the rock-ribbed hills and
soaring away the denizens of the jun
giles. This invasion OF the native
wilds, however advantageous to the
people, was not in harmony with the
independence enjoyed by the wild
beasts and reptiles for many centuries
before the phalanxes of Alexander
the Great penetrated the solitudes
of India and more especially was
the invasion repugnant to the feelings
OF the lordly pythons, in that it terror
lied the game upon which they preyed
and sent them scurrying into more re-
mote recesses of the forest. With an
ingenuity worthy the Edenic serpent
that plotted the ruin of the human
race, two enormous pythons conspired
to wreck a passenger train, as the sole
means of maintaining inviolate their
pristine surroundings. Placing their
bodies so as to form switch from the
main railroad track they awaited the
coming of the train. The place select
ed was on the verge of steep decline,
their calculations being that wreck
at that point would be most fatal and
disastrous. Fortunately the train was
moving slowly, owing to the dangerous
condition of the tracks and sharp
curves, and the search light of the To-
connective revealed just in time the hor-
rible preparations that had been made
for its destruction. The passengers
We're frightfully alarmed, and many,
believing that other similar dangers
awaited them if this attempt proved
unsuccessful, were importunate in their
demands to be taken back to the near
EST station. There were, however, sew
bral Of her maiesty's officers on board
who were entering that part Of India
for few weeks shooting. They
were experienced hunters, and only
welcomed the opportunity of proving
20 many of their fellow-passengers with
whom they held converse on the way
That they were as brave as they had
represented. They insisted on killing
the pythons, which still chung fast to
the rails, not in the least suspecting
that their plot had been laid bare.