The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-01
COVERED WITH SNAKES.
BUT TRAVELLER CLUNG TO THE
TREE JUST THE SAME.
Was Obliged to DO So to Escape N
Flood and the AIIiGntors-A Drum
mer Tells of His Fearful Experience
In Texas.


an hour late and settled down to pass
the time as best it might, II spent
night once surrounded by not dozens of
them. but hundreds. Real snakes, too;
none of those produced by good spirits.
either 1t was just seven years ago this
fall that business for my firm led my
wanderings down to Sabine Pass. a little
town in Texas on the gulf coast. / was
tired out by the journey down the river
on an old. slow steamer, struggling with
patched-up paddle and an Anticipated
engine. so that 1 turned in early. 1t
must have been somewhere In the neigh
borhood of midnight that I was awak
ened by a dull. booming sound, afar off,
and a trembling Of the earth.
81 sprang from the bed and rushed to
the window. and by the light of the
moon-a weak-eyed. sickly Diana as ever
fought the clouds-I could make out
what seemed a solid wall of water adj
vancing from the sea. II was on the
town before the helpless people could
run for their lives. and house after house
shrank into nothingness as a lump of
sugar might. In an instant more L was
out in the water battling the murky
wave anu uuChliE tIbtu NHt tiillpVio
hurled high in the air as the angry tide
seized them in its cruel play. ! had al
ways supposed myself to be fair swim
mer. but the odds were too fearfully
against me for me to be able to long
sustain myself in the seething. eddying
flood. 1 felt my strength going from me.
my head was giddy with the force Of the
vortex. and l flung out my hand in an
a DIV Ga1f a
so a chicken coop fioated past with a
dripping rooster standing on top Shrek
ing dismally. 1 caught the structure and
held to IL like grim death, and by dint
of struggling with it succeeded i'm get
ting up beside the disconsolate lord of
the poultry yard
My weight sank the coop to within
an inch or two of the water. but even
this precarious perch was better than
nothing. We then joined i'm the mad race
in which dead cattle, branches of trees
ana trees themselves. with every now
and then human body with a set white
race staring up at the pitiless sky, went
dancing on as IL to devils tune
Every now and then some one of these
objects would collide with the ROSTERS
and my frail craft and we would go
under, but the next moment we would
emerge again and / would reach out and
seize my less fortunate companion on
this strange voyage and fetch him up
again to the perch by my side. Once
| mounted my coop after a plunge OF
this sort. a long. black muzze shot up
from the water close by and a vicious
snap told me that in addition to the
CHASTITY objects on top Of the waters,
there were even more dreadful creatures
below In the shape of alligators, and
shuddered TO think of what would become
Of the bodies that a few hours be-
fore were living. joyous human beings
Again | saw the corpse of a baby of
about year old float by, one chubby
hand still clutching a rag doll whose
gay dress Of red calico formed a cruel
contrast to the wax-white fingers that
held it,
"All at once the coop came in violent
contact with a large water-oak tree that
stood still upright before the flood, with
its branches thrown up against the sky
as If in mute protest of the sights il
looked upon. AS the coop struck this
body / was thrown off, and when /
would have seized the craft again. II
was whirled out OF my reach by the mad
rush of the tide and | was again thrown
against the tree, but this time 1 caught
at the end Of one Of the lower branches
depending about one foot from the water.
and selling this | drew myself out Of the
current, and reaching up found another
still larger bough near me, and so from
one TO another l climbed as well as my
soaking garments would allow. though
fortunately these were of the lightest
possible character.
1.-THE moon now went out behind the
gathering clouds and left the scene i'm
profound darkness, and l could only i'm
agine the horrors about me, and so when
presently my hand touched something
clammy and cold / could not at first
Identify its nature, but when il moved
along the branch in a slow. sinuous
movement / guessed at once the fearful
character OF the crature occupying that
fF-an uFffh ma Ilfff huH NO inc 10 Il
more than recoil from this horror I'm the
dark when / felt another drop from
somewhere over my head and land on
my bare neck. / reached up and caught
the long shape by the tail and with a
jerk flung II out into the water, and as
I did so | was sensible Of a third crawl
ing on the other arm, by which Z still
held to the tree. l Shuddered with real
terror, for | knew this low country was
infested with the most Venomous Vari-
cites of rattlesna<e and the big green
water moccasin, but there were only the
two courses open TO me-to keep perfect
" passive under the reptiles passage
over my body and not to provoke them
10 an attack. when my fate would be
sealed or to face death at once BY
dropping off the tree into the black food
swirlng beneath.
81 resolved to take the first chance
and steeled myself 10 endure the touch
of the hideous creatures that, attracted
about me- One sought a refuge in the
open shirt at my throat and coiled him
self about my neck tightly. scarcely Civ
ing me power TO breathe. while another
climbed into my breast itself and lay
there horrid shape. no doubt watching
with it's evil eyes my every movement.
There were snakes all about me, above,
beneath me, hanging from the boughs,
swinging lightly to and fro, crawling up
and down the portions of the oak that
still remained above the surface of the
water 1 grew sleepy finally, but / knew
that to give up to my drowsiness would
be death, for IL L fell into the water the
alligators would not leave even my bare
bones to tell the story of my fate, while
III / held on instinctively even in sleep
the least unguarded movement would be
to excite the snakes into attacking my
defenseless body
$50 shuddering and sick at heart I
waited for the dawning Of day, for the
hours in that tree seemed each to be a
week Ny seat itself was precarious, for
the water had dashed over it several
times. leaving every branch covered
with a green slime very offensive to the
smell and rendering them something of
the nature of a slippery pole. But man
can do much in the face of death OF
which he thinks himself incapable at
other times, and so / wrapped my bare
legs about that snake-festooned tree as
lovingly as If there had been a prize
offered for it, At last day broke sui
lenly over as extraordinary a scene as
ever human eyes looked upon. The en-
tire town was gone, swept from the face
of the earth as completely as though
II had never existed, and rolling back
out to sea was the tidal wave that had