Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-07-12
EARNED BIG PAY.
Two Hours Work with RattlcSnakcS
in Mine Shaft.

II earned $500 once In less than two
hours working in Il minc,' said Charles
Campbell, Il composition, to the Cincin.
natl Enquirer but had to kill 12G
mttlcSnakuS TO do 1t. | wouldn't do
the job over again for less than 81
per snake. | was i'll hard luck on the
coast and happened to drift into the
fine gold district of the San Joaquin,
where 4 company was working the
White Quartz mine. At the time |
dropped in on 'em they found that
they had to bring back into the service
again shaft that had been abandoned
several years before. The shaft was
so feet deep, &nd there was tunnel ut
the bottom of the same length.
Through long disusc the shaft had
become choked with debris at the
mouth of the tunnel, and ii had to be
cleaned out before the shaft could be
used again.
The very day | got there the COIN
pany had sent two workmen down this
shaft to dig out the debris, but they
had hardly landed at the bottom be-
fore they signaled frantically to be
hauled up When the bucket got to
the top the two men were covering in
the bottom Of the bucket, pale us
ghosts, and SO nearly scared TO death
that they had to be helped out. 1t
was some time before they were able
to give any explanation.
"Rattlesnakes was what allied them.
The shaft, they said, was full OF rattle
snakes, lying about everywhere, big
and ugly. They were SO thick, they
in the depths Of the shaft, when the
men disturbed the colony. almost made
them deaf. The men had not dared
step from the tub, but had signaled
hastily to be raised to the surface.
"A lantern lowered to the bottom of
the shaft showed that the men knew
what they talked about. The depths
were literally alive with big rattlers,
and they writhed and tumbled about.
furious ut the intrusion OF the light
among them. Some of the savage old
chaps struck their fangs against the
hear the sound OF the contact where
we stood gazing down on the cheerful
sight from the mouth OF the shaft. and
the noise Of the fierce chorus of rattles
was like the rasping OF field full of
Kansas locusts. The sight aud sound
made me homesick. | haven't seen or
heard anything like that for years
not since l left my native place In the
Big Coon country, Tennessee.
THAT rattlesnake music at the bot
tom Of the mine shaft way out on the
Pacific coast made me homesick. ]
began to pine for the Big Coon coun-
try, but | hadn't cent. Ii ! hadn't
been homesick ! don't believe I'd
have jumped at the offer the superin-
tendent Of the mine made after no
found there was no other way TO get
those rattIcrs out Of that shaft
"I'll give 800 In gold he said, TO
any one who will clean out them
snakes
II stepped TO the front.
Make 1t 500 In gold and quart OF
whisky and I'll 20 your said
"He added the whisky and we closed
the deal right there. / borrowed
pair Of buckskin legglngs and q pair
Of buckskin gloves. Aiming myself
with a long club and the bottle of
whisky, and taking lantern, /
jumped into the tub and they lowered
me to the bottom % the shaft.
hadn't intended to be hoisted until
had bagg,d all the rattlers In sight.
But, after threshing away for 20 min
uets at the snakes as they hurried
away to hiding PAGES or showed fight,
and killing all that I could get my club
In on, the poisonous odor that exudes
from these deadly reptiles when they
are angered was too much for me. |
Even Pacific coast whisky couldn't |
It, and felt myself grow
Ing dizzy and faint
II had thrown into the tub the rat |
tiers had killed, and was getting into
it myself to signal for q hoist before |
| succumbed 10 the Loxious rattlesnake
air ! was breathing, when, In niche
In one side of the shaft, even with my /
shoulder, not foot and o half away /