The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-16
FRUSTRATING SNAKES.
Snake-Fighter Adams Makes an
Astonishing Discovery.
From the Philadelphia Press.

Astonishing Discovery.
From the Philadelphia Press.
John Adams, who lives. down in the
Neck, and whose dog disappeared after a
terrific battle with a host of horned
tailed snakes over a week ago, is incon-
solable. He found the skeleton of the
animal in the marsh and he has sworn to
be revenged upon the whole snake family
Incidentally he made some new discover
les.
Since Friday a week ago, Adams has
| devoted his spare time to looking for his
| dog. He had an idea that the canine was
| only frightened and would fiLd his way
| home when he got hungry. But a whole
week passed and nothing was seen or
| heard of the dog.
Adams determined to learn his pets
| fate and donning a pair of long rubber
| boots he sailed forth early Saturday
morning. He brought down few birds
with his gun, but he did it more out of
! habit than anything else. He heard the
whistling made by several tlocks of ducks
as they sailed southwark over the
marshes, but he was not looking for
ducks. He went to the place where he
had the battle with the horn-tailed snakes,
and much to his surprise the hollow log
in which the snakes had lived was miss
ing.
On patch of grass left here by the re-
ceeding TIDE Adams saw something that
nearly scared him out of seven years
growth. He could distinguish the bones
of an animal. All round the knoll was a
moving, seething mass of snakes. They
seemed to be double-ended and scurried
back and forth as if they had important
business to carry out and were anxious to
get through as soon as possible.
THEY ESCAPE HIS CLUTCHES.
Adams was spellbOund. He remem-
bered his experience with the horn-tailed
snakes and thought he might gain re-
ward from Superintendent Brown of the
zoo for one of the snakes. He had neg
lected to reload his gun after shooting the
reed birds His face wore grim smile
of exultation until he reached to his belt
to get cartridge Then his expression
changed and he said words which some
| of the newspapers use dashes, asterisks
and exclamation marks to express. His
| cartridge belt had been lost while he was
| struggling through the morass.
He could not shoot any of the snakes
so he went at them with his feet and gun
atock. The more he tried to kill them
the more tired he became and after a half
hours hard work he was obliged to rest
on a log that stuck out of the swamp
nearby without even a snake to his
credit. He watched the snakes for nearly
an hour. He says they averaged eighteen
lUCuGS III lGuSbl anu IGS6LI Dl6u but COLI
mon water moccasin, so plentiful in the
southern swamps Unlike the moccasin,
however, they have two heads, or at least
have the power of propelling, themselves
! backward or forward as they desire, just
like the common earthworn. Adams says
that around the necks of the largest
snakes were rings of crimson that faded
away to light blue as the sun shone on
them.
SAD RECOGNITION.
The snakes cleaned the bones of the
animal in an hour. Adams doubled on
his trail and finally found his cartridges.
When he returned to capture some of the
snakes not reptile was in sight. He was
disappointed, for he had twenty-eight
cartridges, and could have slaughtered
thousand reptiles. But his disappoint-
ment gave away to rage when he examined
the bones on the little knoll He recog-
nized the remains of his faithful egg
sucking, chicken-stealing, stumpy tailed
dog who had met an untimely fate at the
tails of the horn tailed snakes Adams
identified the bones by the stumpy tail
and the missing molars on the right side
of the dogs Jaw.
Adams thinks that his dog went back
to renew the fight with the hOrn-tailed
snakes, and that, weak from the loss of
blood in the first encounter and outnum-
bered by the enemy, he met his death
like a hero. Adams says he will secure a
basket of the double-ended snakes if it
takes him year.