Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-08-15
DIAMOND.BACK RAHHLERS.
THERE ARE LOTS OF THEM
IN FRIO COUNTY, TEXAS.
LIE ABOUT EVERYWHERE,

| LILLY ADOO IL H1t L W dAVbs
Night and Day, and You Must Be
Careful Not to Step on Them
Adventures With
the Reptiles.
nilley (Tex.) Letter to The Philadelphia Times.
I have read stories by hunters,
prospectors, and others of the ven
omous nature of the seven-foot
diamond-back rattlesnake found
in Arizona. Whether or not there
are any seven-foot rattlesnakes in
Texas I am not prepared to say
positively, as I have never seen
one, but we have the genuine dia-
mond-back, which ls, no doubt,
fully as venomous as those of
Arizona, and when it comes to
mum bers Southwest Texas will
compare with any portion of the
country.
Walk where you will, day or
night, you are liable at any mo-
ment to tread upon or step in dan
gerous proximity to one of these
venomous creatures, curled up in
your path, or gliding noiselessly
across it. If it should be imms-
diately after one Of the cool night
rains, the snake may be enjoying
a siesta, in the morning sun after
its cool bath. In this case the
danger is doubly great, for the
fatal step maybe taken too late to
retreat after the warning rattle is
given.
The writer has spent two months
in this neighborhood. His hosts
house stands three-fourths of q
mile west of the station, which
consists of a post-ofice, store, sta
ton, and TWO or three dwelling
houses. A few days ago, after a
cool norther the previous night. an
eightren-inch diamond-back was
discovered curled up asleep near
the woodpile. The conversation of
two persons in ordinary voices
failed to wake the sleeping reptile
for several minutes, though the
creature lay almost at our feet. On
another occasion a two-foot dia-
mond-back was founu asleep with
in short distance of the front
gate, almost directly in the path
way. This snake, together with
the patch of earth on which it lay,
was picked up on the blade of
large cotton hoe and carried sew
eral steps before the slightest evi-
dence. of animation was mani
tested.
There can be no gamer snake.
large or small, than the Texas dia-
mond-back rattlesnake. Prod it
with a hoe or rake, or even impale
it with a pitchfork, inhicting a
dangerous wound, release it, and
the diamond-back will still make
surprising jumps in its efforts to
strike any object presented.
One day last April, when the air
was still chilly at times, an itin-
Grant Mexican was employed to
clean out the smokehouse, small
frame structure 12 by IA feet, which
stands within ten feet of the south
door of the house. During this
process six diamond backs, ranging
in length from eighteen inches to
two feet, were found in the smoke
house. When a snake was discov-
cred, the Mexican would impale it
ON his hay fork and throw it':nto
the yard, where, after fair test of
its courage, which in no instance
was found wanting, the reptile was
killed.
One of these snakes, somewhat
darker in color than the others, and
next 10 the smallest in size, after
a prong of the fork had passed
through its body, made consider
able jump, striking the heavy sole
of my outing shoe, which was pre-
sented. Another in it's rage and
frantic efforts to strike the invert-
ed blade of a cotton hoe, actually
hung itself by the fangs on the
blade, where it remained suspend
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