The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1893-08-05

had only stones and sticks with which
to light the desperate battle. Some Of
She snakes were larger than Il mans
arm, and a few of them NS large rs the
calf OF u mans leg. For hours she
fought them rs they hiSsed and
writhcd and ratified around her. but
The brave, determined girl hattlId with
them until she cNtermiuated every
one that did not succeed in hiding
among the Crrviccs of rocks and in
the dense underground, When she
had crushed the last one to he seen she
counted the dead, and there We're just
SiNty-three.
"Thc snake" said Wcstchcster
County farmer who was adding n few
touches 10 his stone fence, "is compar-
atively extinct in this part of the
United States, Scarcely anything left
of the family, except II few mourncrS.
Up in the Northwest is where YOU
want to 90 if you're anything of Il
snake lover. | was up there for II
while, and tell YOU ii was interesting.
| wouldn't have missed the experience
tor worlds. Up there you'd have to
stop the moving machines because
they'd got cloggcd up with snakes,
four and five in Il bunch. After YOU
once got field cleared il wasn't So
bad, but wherever you fognd that
prairie grass would be the place to look
for mcnageric.'
/ ut must have been exciting work in
such a field
"No. IT was just pitilul. One
minute you'd hear their rattling and
the next you'd see the snakes cut
down, don't say that there wasn't
any danger
II should think they'd strike at YOU
very frequently.'
"Oh, the danger didn'trun that way.
We were pretty we'll protected rs far as
their biting us was concerned We
always had lot of stovepipc on hand,
and every man would get his legs nice
ly logged out in sheet-irOn trousers be-
fore he went to work. Sometimes they
would get after the men so lively that
the noise of their teeth on the sheet
iron would sound like hail ON II tin roof.
1t would bother a tendertoot consid-
erahly, but after a man has been there
Il while he didn't mind it. 1t was
funny to watch snake gather himself
and glance off piece af sheet iron with
.he first t0Othache he probably ever
had.
But the real danger came i'm when
you went to fix the moving machine.
You see when the snakes would get
knotted together around the knives
they would bite anything that was
handy. The consequence was that
they would fill one another full of
poison, and when the knife went
through their bodies it would get all
gunmed up with venom. OF course,
somebody would have to clean it Off,
and he had to be mighty careful not
TO scrape his finger against the blade
too hard, because if he took the skin off
it meant one Of two things, Il funeral or
Il aterrible waste of Whiskcy.
"NO,n the old man concluded, almost
cOntemptuously ''snakcs up this way
are pretty good to make pets of, but
they don't really seem like shakes"
\ eopperhead four feet long invaded
the country house Of Thomas Saaton,
near Bolivar, Pa, some time during
Sunday, and lay concealed until after
the family had retired. Awakened by
his dogs, Mr.. SeatOn arose in his stock
ing feet, and went down stairs to in
vestigate. His foot struck Il soft object
which he carlessly kicked aside. The
soft object twisted around its victims
leg, and when the man tried to kick
the snake loose with his free foot his
enemy struck him blow upon the sole
of it.
The screams Of Mrs. Seaton brought
help from the neighbors, who killed
the reptile. The bitten foot began to
swell. Mr.. Seaton fell into a stupor,
and although physicians have given
him four quarts Of whiskey, they al
most despair Of his life.
A Kansas women who found a rat
tlesnake in her kitchen screamed so
loud that the neighbors all thought she
had seen a rat.
Comparatively few deaths by snake
bites occur in this country. but not
long ago Mrs. Richard Smith, of Rome,
o., who happened upon nest of
SldheS, was DIICcH several tlIneS, ana
died.
All animals are afraid of snakes ex-
cept pigs.
A brave young colt in Lehigh Glen
recently distinguished itself by killing
a rattlcsnake with its hoOfs, but the
colt was bitten in the fight and died.
Snake dosen't usually cat snake, but
a contributor to Forest and Stream, |
who being Boston man, cannot lie,
tells Of a blacksnake who had swallow !
ed another.
The best weapon to kill really dan
gerOus snake is a loaded shotgun. A
club is too short, but q long, Timber
fishpole may answer.
A story about a rattlesnake's trail
comes from southwest Georgia.
a farmer while walking along road |
saw a large rattler cross the road and /
make off for the woods, leaving a dim /
trail in the white sand of the road.
He sat on a log and waited, and very
soon another rattleSnake came aIonG