The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-18
"A BRAIDED BALL OF SNAKES.
A Story That Recalls and Almost Ex-
cells the Secaucus Classic.


From the Boston Advertiser
From the town of Montville, some six
miles south of Norwich, Conn, comes a
strange snake story, as far above the av-
erage New Jersey or Kentucky legend as
the eagle of the empyrean is above the
waddling duck of the barnyard Accord
ing to the latest account of the Montville
marvel, Henry Dolbeare and Frank Baker
OF that place went to the extreme end of
Harry'S house lott to clean an old we'll,
which is described as .'deep, dry one"
Some rubbish had been thrown out and
the workers removed a couple of broad
boards, when, in the language of the We
raclOus correspondent 1.-The bottom
OF the well rose up, heaving and billow-
ing beneath their feet"
Furthermore it is stated that as thew
"hOpped about with trembling legs on
their serpentine perch" they soon dis
covered that "they had struck sort of
solid stratum of well snakes, deep, con-
voluted, and inbraided, a great round
ball, as big as a school globe, of hiber-
mating reptiles" Even as they gazed
''the sphere of slim snake strands, which
had been wound into a hard mass like
ball of wrapping Irvine in criss-crOss
fashion during the winter, had instantly
burst into multitudinous and nimble con
seriousness and activity under the thread
of the farmers cowhide boots; then it
began to unravel itself, and scores of
serpent tails and red-forked Jaws de-
tached themselves from the mass and
shot upward, twining themselves about
the mems legs and slapping them vici-
ously."
Clearly in such a case the heroic Mont
Williams had but one course of action. If
the snakes had been weak, sickly things
perhaps they might have been left undis-
turbed; but as they were well snakes"
and as they averaged five feet in length,
some of them being seven feet long and as
thick as man's-perhaps an ossifed
mans forearm, both MIR. Dolbeare and
Mr.. Baker seemed to have entered upon
the task of turning the rascals out in
good Jacksonian fashion. In a brief
space of time, eight minutes by stop
watch, the attacking column of
serpents, the first onset of which was like
the roar of a mad river advancing from
subterranean regions, had dribbled away
to a mere rivulet of reptiles and the men
as speedily disposed of the rivulet." By
arithmetical computation it was dis
covered that ia 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 on the
arms, resulting from the energy displayed
in the work of determination.
The thrilling experience of Mr.. Dol
beare and Mr.. Baker almost deserves to
rank with that of Cornelius Vanderhook
of Secaucus, n. j. While we cannot
vouch for the truth of Mr. Yanderhoox's
statements, it is only fair to note that the
latter claims to have killed the more
snakes. 1t is claimed that the New Jer-
sey episode took place just after an cleo
ton in Bergen county, and it is possible
that liquor was used in that contest; but
on the day on which Mr.. Vanderhook set
out to NOW the marshes near his dom
icile he was probably as dry as the Mont
vile well. Mr.. Vanderhook began his
task in a hstless fashion, but soon became
conscious that the scythe was meeting
with great resistance.
Upon looking more closely around him
he was astOnished to see that the whole
meadow was literally lOathsome field of
snakes which were so close together as to
hide the grass absolutely from view
Their repulsive heads, alive with awful
fury and malignant anger, swayed and
trembled in waves of Medusa-like motion
as grass before the wind. A thousand
Kisses chilled Mr.. Vanderhook's blood to
colorless serum for the moment, but with
frenzy born of desperation he began
striking madly on every side with the
mad reckleSSneSS of descendant of the
Berserkers. He also used scythe.
After 4315 seconds had elapsed he had dis
posed of III serpents, making a record
which will stand as the best in spite of
the excellent performance of the Mont
Williams.
In 81 minutes he had covered nearly
half an acre, but was compelled to pause
for a brief space, because the dying
snakes in their agony had so twisted
themselves around each other and around
his heavy boots that he was powerless to
drag the cOntorted mass, which measured
some 10 feet across and nearly u feet
deep, any farther. However, he solved
the difficulty by stepping out of his boots
and continuing the fight in stockinged
feet. Soon afterward the blade of his
scythe broke off against stone, and he
was compelled to finish his task with
merely the handle After the last snake
had been killed he counted l, 1927 snakes,
the body of half snake having wriggled
away out of sight.