Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-08-19
GREAT SNAKES
In sava-They Grow 100 Feet Long.
but the Longest Killed Was %.

- '"'"-fheS GROW 100 Feet Long,
but the Longest Killed Was ol.
For the last 100 years there have been
traditions Of huge snakes in the in
terror of Java 100 feet long and as big
around as a hogshend, and our native
hunters report these from time TO
time. Fifty years ago u man named
TAFT, Scotchman, started with a party
OF natives to hunt up the pythons. He
never returned and was supposed to
have been killed by some wild animal.
He must have been a giant. FOR have
seen one of his guns, weighing thirty
pounds, and carrying two-ounce balls
writes Il correspondent of the Phnadel-
phia Times.
About a year ago a captain in the
English army named Coles landed here,
accompanied by party of Sikh sol
diers. He was soon Joined by Ideuten-
ant Ayres Of the British navy, and 1t
was announced that they were after
the big snakes. Captain Coles was a
remarkable shot, and at 400 yards
would knock over parrot every time.
Their COURSE was up the Dowan, a
stream running clear for fifty miles and
then spreading over a swamp for 100
miles. almost to the south coast, and
alive with man-eatlns crocodnes They
had with them several donkeys, and
one night. eneamped on the river bank.
one OF these animals gave tremen-
dous squeal, and the Englishmen, look
Ing out, saw Il huge gray mass sliding
over the ground and gave the alarm.
Two crooodiles had come ashore and
seized the donkey, Both were shot.
They We're hideUus reptiles, thirty feet
long, with jaws capable OF cutting
man In TWO. Next morning they went
to work and killed thirteen. one thirty
six feet long.
In few days they reached the heart
OF the submerged region. snakes thirty
five feet long were shot but the giants
Kept out Of sight. ON land the brush
was very thick. and wild hogs and deer
make wcll-defned paths from one wa
tercourse to the other, and along these
the pNthons watch for game.
one morning n native hunter came
in and reported "a big snake near. Two
hundred yards away the Englishmen
saw swinging between the trees a SER
pent almost as big In the middle as a
barrel. Its backbone was broken by
shot, and after much trouble II was
taken In ana skinned, II was forty-one
feet long, Such n snake would crush a
man bi i've seconds.
They had now reached the end OF
their Journey; the river ended in a mass
OF Ve~rtnti0E so dense as 90 make fur
tho -to@rn7s impossible, 80 a camp
was inadp a. tho river bank and the
next Jay fne guides brought in the
head and a fCw feet OF the trunk OF
a serpent that had evidently been eat
I en- by croccdiles. The head was nearly
U q II e.. . IL.
] nous lon. H. Ii weighed sixty pounds
ana was i hldeous object. 1t had no
I doubt been caught In the water and
[ bitten 60 death.
Earl one morning IN alarm was
1 given by Sne of the Sikh soldiers. lie
1 pointed 10 something glistepinE IN the
I water half mile AWAY. Through the
glass Il A. seen to be q snake swim
/ ming. Ti.t raft was at once manned
/ by the two Englishmen and their gum
| bearers. Seen above the water the rep-
4 tiles head was as large az barrel
] and shone like bright copper. It wes
I evidently making for a nat, sandy place
near the shore. and the hunters WELT
/ ed. Part of the body was now exc
/ posed and the men were amazed. 1t
/ was NJ least three feet thlclS and ms
/ the long coils glided over the sand It
seemed TO get bigger
[ Now. men. break It's buck'
-Four shots We're fired, and three won't
4 through the body of the snake. hiss
/ like steam escape and the head arose
twenty feet in the air while its tail
beat the water like a fail. suddenly II
turned and the next moment a trcmen-
| dous blow struck the raft, All got
into the water and made for the shore
hut one sikh. He stopped to secure his
rife, and again the tail descended and
he was struck fairly, his back md ribs
being crushed into fragments. He
5,es,S' ,,plNdas as.0,i,-a.ss sac = lfv.'''NsI
| 5s.elH,cd n took six hours to gee tho
scd,l 10 land. and IT'S length wfs ntneiy-
sS,,r feet The skin wns treated win
nhi,n ashes by thu natives an eTelql,
ient Dreservatlve. There. is notrecqrd
~ such snake ever being Killed BE-
fore, 49,, ro,4v and
4. tools them three weeks to get home.
Tbsv had been out three months.