The Washington times., 1894-12-26
coRRALED BY RATTLERs.
An Army Engineers Exciting Night on 1
Mountain in the Northwest.


An Army Engineers Exciting Night on a
Mountain in the Northwest.
''We reached the Wolf Mountain, in the
Big Horn country, one day In September,
said II. P. Tutlle. formerly an Army engineer,
'"while 10 the south were dimly visible the
outlines OF the Rattlesneak Mountains. These
names were given o these mountains by both
the Crow and the Sioux Indians, who re-
garded them with horror. Late on the after
noon of our first day in these mountains L
sent all of my party to camp about two miles
to the southwest. Going forward with my
transit to where had sent my head fagman,
l placed it in position and told him he could
return to camp. as had to remain in order
to make an astronomical observation early in
the evening.
Taking off his belt. which held huge re-
yolver and a sheath knife about foot in
length he hande d it to me. Isaying that
might need 1t after dark. as he had just seen
Il small pack OF wolves ahead. After he had
gone 1 looked over the ground about me anc
saw that l was on a hat-topped hill covered
with large boulders aud small stones, but en-
TREY destitute OF vegetation. Seating myself
besi0e big boulder took out my notebook
and began writing up my notes for the day
when darkness suddenly reEined me that il
was about time to make my astronomical OBJ
servations. This was soon over, and lstarted
of at a brisk walk ,oward our camp.
II had not gone over a hundred yards when
/ saw, few feet ahead of me, a long. black
object. wing directly in my path. | wanted
walking stick badly, ami was STOPPING
down TO pick it up wnen l noticed the end Of
1t furthest from me WAS white. Taking a
match from my pocket and tearing a leaf
fro, h,. Eoc ~ or I bad
the desired ight. and what was my horror to
see that the supposed stick was nothing but
one of the deadly green raltlesnakes. com
pleteiy paralyzed by the chilly night air.
Another light showed that the white object
was the snake rattlesi So old was he that
his ratties had turned white. Holding my Ie-
volYer within foot of his head / fired and
blew it entirely off; but now came aEother
surprise. which tor a moment made me trem-
bic. The report of my revolver had awak-
ened dozens OF rattlers who had sought
shelter under the loose rocks before sunset.
The sounds came from al directions, and
some seemed close to my feet.
ITO one who has been in the forest and
heard the noise made By hundre IS Of Ioeusts.
he can readily realize my situation. for the
( buzz OF q rattlesnake is exactly like the buzz
/ of locust. The only thing now for ne TO
/ do was 10 stand in my tracks ali night or
make M way back TO the boulder from
| VIII ch l started; but there was a difficulty.
/ for in the excitement had forgotten the di-
/ rection. But where there is will there is
| way and by STOPPING low down and scan
/ ming the horizon soon detected the outline
| OF my transit against the sky, and cutting OF
1 the rattles l. was soon beside he boulder aud
/ flied with excitement enough for one night.
Sitting down by the boulder | made up
my mind 10 pass the night at that spot, and
/ was soon sleeping as soundIy as one can IN
/ the open air. wigh only a canvas coat and the
mercury below freezing. About midnight L
was suddenly aroused by something trying to
| pull off the shoe rom my left loot. La an in
! slant caught the glaring eyes and outline OF
/ wolf. He had given up his grip as he saw
me move. and mechanically I seized my re-
! volver. which had le lying in my lap. ami
/ fred as best / could vii h my half frozen hand.
"a loud yell showed that he had been
/ struck, aad Immediately dozen or mora
/ wolves who had been close By set up a howl
I ing. which in the still night air could have been
/ heard for miles around. For an hour or two
I all was quiet when a solitary howl few
I yards from me was answered by dozen
others not a hundred yards away. 1t was
TOO dark 10 see an animal OF the size OF a
| wolf more than twenty feet away, but trust
| ing TO luck | took the direction of the pack
| as near as possible, AMI sent three shots at
| them as rapidly as l could fire.
"A couple OF yelis showed two had been
I
alter this the bowling of the wolves ceased,
and for a while all was quiet again. l had
no fear of a direct attack from the wolves at
that season of the year; Dut had 1t been win
ter 1 should have had 10 take refuge on top OF
the bowder aud use my revolver, when every
shot would have had 10 tell.
''As soon as it was light enough picked up
the string of rattleS which had secured the
night before and found there were nineteen,
and as the button was missing, he may have
| had several more. A few rods from my transit
lay the cleanly picked bones OF wolf which
! one of my random shots had killed during the
night, and on which the coyotes had made a
substantial meal, but not satisfied with tbs,
( they had devoured the big rattler l had killed
fhead and all.
Returning to camp l ordered one Of my
men to cut ten small poles, not less than
eight feet in length, and 10 wake me up at 10
| O'Clock. AT that hour we ali started for ihe
place where l had passed the nigh. Here
! we found, as l had expected. the warm RAYS
! of the sun had brought out the snakes from
their hiding places to bask in the sunshine.
I'VE were greeted with Il defiance not un-
like that of ,0G0 July locusts. and the work
OF destruction began in real earnest In one
hour and ten minutes our bag contained 81;
rattlers. varying from one foot TO over three
feet in length. and of dark green color
Only two were found whose rattles had
turned gray. We could have destroyed hun
dreds more had our time not been too val
liable to waste in such sport. We saw bu
few rattlers after leaving this point. but tht
wolves made night hideouS until We reached
the Little Missouri River, month later"
Kansas City Journal.
.