Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-02-19
lA'BRAVE INDIAN NURSE.
BHE SAVED THE LIFE OF A.
CHILD FROM A COBRA.
Attacked the Reptile aud Rsoslved the
Fatal Blte-A Monument Raised
to CONNIE morato the Hs-
roio Decd.


q commercial traveller recently. and
was in very different line OF business
from the one l now follow i was
doomed TO spend some weeks in a mac
tive Indian village, and had some
strange experiences An Indian viii
lage Is not as its name would seem to
imply, a collection OF houses or a
small city, but the word is used there
as we use the word county or town.
ship. 1t is small district compris-
1ng farms and certain amount of
acreage This is all under the charge
OF the potail who is the same as our
mayor and magistrate and police Judge
all in one. and. in addition rents and
collects for all the land within the viii
lage district In short his power is
almost autOcratic.
At the time | mention was left ia
special charge OF the potail of the VIII
lage and was an honored guest The
village astrologer gave me special au-
dience the village poet penned stan
zas to me, and the village musician
and the village dancing girl were
equally anxious to entertain me. All
these are regular parts of the village
government and receive their regular
salaries out Of the produce of the viii
lage land. 1t is an example of COM
munism that would delight Bellamy
and his followers.
What most interested me during my
stay in the village however was in
learning the habits OF the many dam
gerous wild animals especially these
of the reptile class AS every ono
knows, the most fearfully interesting
feature OF Indian life is the great num-
Der OF people destroyed by wild beasts.
In 1869 an instance is known Of one
tigress killing 127 different people
and so great was the fear excited by
the bloody work. that it actually put
stop 10 travel on the public road for a
term OF five weeks. In 1871 statistics
were kept which showed that the total
number OF deaths known to have been
caused by wild beasts was Is. 078l
And OF this number nearly 15.0 900
were from venomous snakes-the cobra
de capello. Of course, leading the list
A few days before left for the sea-
board | was walking along in the gar
den OF the potail when | saw the little
two-year old child of my host sitting
OF in by-path cooling and playing,
apparently by himself. and every few
minutes he would scold and then laugh
quito heartily.
Wondering where the nurse could
be, and how this baby could be left
out in the garden alone stepped
forward and saw tho terrible reason
for it all Lying in the path was the
nurse. dead and grasped in her tight
ly clutched nand was an ugly cobra,
with his dull-brown repulsive appear
aGce. The little child was striking az
the snake with stick he had, and
when the reptile would strike at him
and fail, the little fellow would laugh
heartily. l sprang forward at once
and killed the reptile and picked the
child up to get out OF the way as
quickly as possible. for fear the cobra's
mate might be somewhere around.
was not n moment too soon, for
the mate had arrived and found the
dilated back and sides of the neck
forming that dreaded hood right in
my path ready to strike. / had no
trouble in killing him. for the cobra is
a very sluggish, dull creature and
at once reached the house and handed
the child over to the potail
OF course all was excitement. and
was overwhelmed with expressions of
gratitude. The poor nurse who had
given up her life for the child OF her
master had monument raised over
her last resting place. and the case
will no doubt long be cited as an ex-
ample OF heroism in the traditions Of
the village.
Why she could not have killed the
cobra and then escaped l have never
been able to understand. for the bite
OF this venomous reptile is the most
poisonous known. yet death rarely
takes place under an hour 1t may
be that she was bitten without know.
ing how, and when she found out she
realized that she would not be able to
reach the house and SO tried to kill
the cobra while shielding the child.
All this Is mere guesswork. how
ever The main fact appears to be
plain that she offered herself as sac
riice. and surely deserved the fitting
Acknowledgement OF her hcrolsm that
was offered her in the monument to
her memory.