The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-23


I come choked with debris at the mouth Of
the tunnel, and it had to be cleaned out
| before the shaft could be used again.
The very day got there the company
mad sent two workmen down the shaft to
dig out the debris, but they had
hardly landed at the bottom when they
| slgnaIled frantically to be hauled up.
| When the bucket got TO the top the two
men were covering in the bottom of the
bucket pale as ghosts, and so nearly
scared to death that they had 10 be
helped out. II 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 declared,
that the noise of their rattles in the
depths OF the shaft, when the men dis
turoed the colony, almost made them
deaf. The men had not dared step from
the tub, but had signalled hastily to be
raised to the surface.
"A lantern lowered to the bottom of
the shaft showed that the men knew what
they were talking about. The depths
were literally alive with big rattlers, and
they writhed and tumbled about, furious
at the intrusion of the light among them.
Some OF the savage old chaps struck their
fangs against the glass of the lantern, so
that we could hear the sound Of the con-
tact where we stood gazing down on the
cheerful sight from the mouth of the
shaft. and the noise CT the fierce chorus
OF rattles was like the rasping of field
fulI of Kansas locusts. The sight and
sound made me homesick l haven't seen
or heard anything like that for years
not since left my native place in the Big
Coon country, Tennessee.
"Ihat rattlesnake music at the bottom
OF the mine shaft way out on the Pacific
coast made me homesick. l began to pine
for the Big Coon country, but l hadn't a
cent. If L hadn't been so homesick l
don't believe I'd have Jumped at the offer
the superintendent of the mine made
after he found there was no other way to
get those rattlers out of that shaft.
'lll give 500 in gold he said, to any
one who will clean out them snakesp
II stepped to the 'front.'
Make it hundred in gold and a
quart Of whisky and I'll go you'll said l
He added the whisky and we closed
the deal right there. | borrowed pair
or bucksktn leggings and pair of buck
skin gloves. Aiming myself with long
club and the bottle of whisky, and taking
lantern. l jumped into the tub and
they lowered me to the bottom of the
shaft. hadn't intended to be hoisted
until had bagged all the rattlers in sight.
But after threshing away for twenty
minutes at the snakes as they hurried
away to hiding places or showed fight,
and killing all that could get my club in
on the poisonous odor that exudes from
theses deadly reptiles when they are
angered, was too much for me. Even
Pacific coast whisky couldn't counteract
it., and felt myself growing dizzy and
faint.
81 had thrown into the tub the rattlers
l had killed, and was getting into it my
self to signal for hoist before l sue
cumbed to the noxious rattlesnalSe air
was breathing, when, in a niche in one
side of the shaft, even with my shoulder,
not foot and half away from my
throat / caught sight of a big RATHER
coiled and ready to strike
Mechanically l threw my head and
shoulders back, just as the snake
launched his big, arrow-like head at my
throat That movement of mine saved
me. The rattler's aim fell short. His
| fangs were buried in the collar of my
coat, an inch from my jugular. instantly
| clutched the reptile with one hand
around its neck, and with the other, as |
| tumbied Unconscious into the tub, pulled
the rope.
Il did not know when I reached the
| top, but the superintendent told me when
l came TO that when the men who were
| at the WlndlaSS saw me in the tub and
| what l was bringing up with me, they
| dropped the crank and ran. But for the
| fortunate presence of a stalwart Mexi-
! can, giant miner named Valarez, who
| caught the crank as it came around and
| held it, l would have gone plunging back
| to the bottom of the shaft, and my fate
would not have beer pleasant.
And l can't say that blame the men
| much who were manning that windlass.
| Lying in the bottom of the tub, appar-
| emily dead, was still clutehing the big
| RATHER by the throat, his fangs almost
| in mine, and lying about me were twenty
| seven enormous and hideous- looking rat
| tiers, victims of my club. Seems TO me
| I'd have dropped something myself and
ran if had seen such sight as that
| coming up out of the dark depths of a
| mine shaft.
~ revived in few minutes, and was
| soon feeling in shape to go down and fin
| ish my contract. l don't know how /
| could have done it, but in the twenty
minutes l was in the shaft had drunk
| half Of the quart of whiskey. Remained
| in the bottom forty-five minutes that trip,
| and brought out fifty-seyen dead rat
| tiers to the surface. / had to chase some
| of them into the sloping tunnel. l had
| absorbed the remainder of the whisky,
and when made my third trip, ten min
utes after l came up, took down another
pint | was down just forty-five minutes.
] garnered forty-eight rattlers, and fin
ished the third pint of whisky.
"If there was another snake left in the
shaft or tunnel l couldn't find it, and the
superintendent handed me over five 500
gold pieces"