Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-09-29
NoRMoUs SNAKES.
sixteen Boxes Of writhins. Kissing Rep
tiles Imported.

INGENIOUS SNAKES
Sixteen Boxes Of Writing. Kissing Rep
tiles Imported.
Sixteen boxes filed with snakes
were unloaded from the steamship
Runic, Of the White Star Line, at
the foot of West Tenth Street, says
the New York World. The snakes
were consigned to w. A. Conklin, an
imal dealer. There were ITO snakes
In the collection, and 1t was a choice
lot Of wriggllng, crawling, DEATH
dealing reptiles.
"That's worse than the cholera"
said a gray-haired old salt, as he saw
the boxes carried from the ship.
"There'sno good luck ever came from
sarpints, and I'm mighty glad to get
rid of them"
The sailors gave the boxes a wide
berth, although Agent Jones. who
came over with the snakes, assured
the men that the reptiles were quite
harmless as long al they did not
escape from the boxes. Before leav-
ing Liverpool the snakes had been
given n good substantial feed of
pigeons, rabbits, and small cats, and
they are not yet through digesting
the meal. Some of them, in fact,
will not want to eat again for two or
three weeks.
The snakes had been packed in long
wooden boxes, fitted with glass tops,
opening on hinges and fastened with
padlocks. Through the glass doors
they could be seen cooled up ON the
bottom of the cases as though dead
to the world.
There were snakes of all kinds and
from many distant countries. There
was the African cobra, or Naja hajc,
and his equally dreaded Indian
brother, the Mia tripudians, with
coats varying in color from yellowish
olive to black. There was the Ophlo-
phagus elaps, one of the most deadly
species of the snake family, which is
the favorite among snake charmers
on account of its great size.
There were r%ing.necked snakes from
Africa and death adders from Austria
liza, the Daboia RUSSELL of the Singha-
lese, copperheads, flatheads pythons,
and Demonstrations, all of them
harmless enough to look at in the
boxes. The minute the boxes were
lifted there was commotion among
the serpents. They wrigglcd and
squirmed and twisted and turned
about in their narrow quarters in a
way that would have scared a drink
ing man to death, while even men
who were strictly temperate could
not look upon the writhing mass
without a Gravity sensation. Every
time a case was jolted in the removal
there would be a sudden raising of
heads and a hiss that sounded like
escaping steam, while the snakes
with widely distended Jaws darted
their heads angrily at the sides Of the
cases aS though striking imaginary
foes
The snakes were packed rather
closely in the boxes, and as soon as
the truck reached the animal-house
a number Of the reptiles we're trans
ferred to other boxes. Experienced
snake handlers were employed for
this. The door of u box would be
opened and a. big blanket thrown over
the snakes, who can do no harm as
long as they cannot see. The hand
Ter could feel the serpents wriggling
under the blanket, and when he had
picked out some particular snake the
part O: the blanket covering him
would be raised, and the snake has
lilly grabbed by the neck with one
hand and by the middle of the body
with the other. In that position he
was comparatively harmless, but it
took a lot of nerve to lift a struggling
python or cobra and drop him on a
pile of straw in another box. After
the newcomer had been made com.
Portable in less closely packed boxes,
q pan of water "a put into each of
the boxes and the lids securely bUltcd.