The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-07-01
A BRAIDED BALL OF SNAKES.
A Story that Recalls and Almost Exccls
tho Secaucus Classic.

A Story that Recalls and Almost Excels
tho secaucus Classic.
From the town of Montville, some
six miles south of Norwich, Conn,
comes strange snake story, MS far
above the average New Jersey or Ken.
tucky legend as the eagle of the EN-.
pyrcan is above the waddling duck of
| the barnya~d. According to the latest
account of the Montville marvel Mr..
Henry Dolbeare and Mr.. Frank Baker
| OF that place 'went to the extreme end
of Henry's house lot" to clean an old
well, which is described rs a deep,
| dry one" Some rubbish had been
thrown out and the workers removed
couple of broad boards, when, in tho
language of the veracious correspond
| ent, 1.-The bottom of the well rose up,
| heaving and billowing beneath their
feet"
Furthermore IL is stated that as they
chopped about with trembling legs on
their serpentine perch" they soon dis
| covered that "they had struck a sort OF
| u solid stratum of well snakes, deep,
| convoluted, and inbraided, great
round ball, as big as school globe, OF
alternating reptiles" Even as they
| gazed "the sphere of slim snake
strands, which had been wound into
hard mass like ball of wrapping
twine in criss-cross fashion during the
winter, had instantly burst into multi
tudinous and nimble consciousness and
activity under the tread of the farmers
cowhide boots; then it began to unravel
! itself, and scores of serpent tails and
red-forl<ed jaws detached themselves
from the mass and shot upward, twin
ing themselves about the mems legs
and slapping them viciously."
Clearly in such a case the heroic
Montvillians had but one course of ac.
tion. If the snakes had been weak,
sickly things perhaps they might have
been left undisturbed; but as they were
"well snakes" and as they averaged
five feet in length, some being seven
feet long and as thick as man's-per-
haps an ossified man's-forearm, both
Mr.. Dolbeare and Mr.. Baker seem to
have entered upon the task of turning
the rascals out in good Jacksonian
fashion. In a brief space of time, eight
minutes by a stop watch, "the attack
ing column of serpents, the first onset
of which was like the roar of a mad
river advancing from subterranean re-
rivulet of reptiles, and the men as
speedily disposed of the rivulet." BY
arithmetical computation it was dis
covered that one hundred and fourteen
reptiles had been made to bite the dust.
The two men who are credited with
the slaughter seem to have escaped
without any injury except slight
strain of the arms, resulting from the
! energy displayed in the work of eXter-
nination.
The thrilling experience of Mr.. Dol
beare and Mr.. Baker almost deserves tc
rank with that of Mr.. Cornelius Van
derhoolz, of Secaucus, N. j. While we
cannot vouch for the truth of Mr.. Van.
derhools's statements, it is only fair to
note that the latter claims to have
killed the more snakes. 1t is claimed
that the New Jersey episode took place
just after an election in Bergen county
4 and it is just possible that liquor was
used in that contest, but on the day or
which Mr. Vanderhook set out to NOV
. the marshes near his domicile he was
t probably as dry as the Montville well
]. Mr.. Vanderhook began his task in
It listless fashion, but soon became con
a scious that the scythe was meeting
with great resistance.
y Upon looking more closely AROUND
: him, he was astonished to see that the
J. whole meadow was literally loath
i some field of snakes, which were sc
: close together as to hide the grass alb
'' solutely from view Their repulsive
= heads, alive with awful fury and ma
! lignant anger, swayed and trembled il
!. waves of Medusa-like motion as gras:
S t'efore the wind. A Thousand Kisses
Q chilled Mr.. Vanderhooll's blood to col
r orless serum for the moment but will
frenzy born of desperation he begar
n Striking madly on every side with the
d mad recklessness of descendant o
e the Berserkers. He also used scythe
n After forty-three and one-half second.
e had elapsed he had disposed of ont
y hundred and seventeen serpents, max
ing record which will stand as tn,
e best, in spite of the excellent perform
:, ance of the Montvillians.
). In three and one-half minutes he ha,
T.; covered nearly half an acre. but wa
u compelled to pause for brief space
!. because the dying snakes in thei
agony had so twisted themselve
>, around each other and around hi
r heavy boots that he was powerless t.
70 drag the contorted mass, which meas
d ured some nineteen feet across an,
is nearly one and-half feet deep, an,
e further. However, he solved the diff
Guilty by stepping out of his boots AM
It continuing the fight in stockinged feet
IS Soon afterward the blade of his scyth.
e broke off against stone, and he wa
e compelled to finish his task with mere
is ly the handle. After the last snak
is had been killed he counted one thou
sand one hundred and siXty-two an,
9 one-half snakes, the body of half
;. snake having wriggled away out @
It sight.-Boston Advertiser.
- How to Clean Bottles.
"A Water bottles, decanters, vinegar an
oil bottles often become discolored an
N require careful treatment. Nearly al
- ways the stains could be removed /
n. cloth and soap and water could be ar
piled to the inside of the bottle wit