The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-03-01
SNAKES TAKE THE GOLD CURE.
Two That Were Good Ratters and Nous
ers When They Were Sober.

SYou know what a bullsnake is, of
| course. 1t is about that long and as
| big around as this, though they vary
in size, as others do"
| 1t was Petite Bigelow talking. He is
| the best-known newspaper man on the
| Pacific coast, and the most picturesque
IN live continents, says the n. 7. SuH.
1t was he who went to the den of the
train robbers, Evans and Sontag, III
the mountains back of Fresno, and re-
turned with a page interview, which
he printed, when all the law officers of
! California, aided by Apache traiiers,
could only get near enough to the rob-
bers to get shot by them. Petite is
rusticating now in New York, because
the Fresno grand jury want him as an
accessory after the fact because he re-
fused to tell the sheriff where he found
the robbers. He denies that the rob-
bers allowed him to visit them on con-
dition that he would tell some Of his
famous snake stories.
However: "The bullsnake," contin-
| ued Petite, "is an intelligent reptile
and ordinarily a model of industry
and sobriety, but | know two, named
Napoleon and Patsy, which fell from
grace IN sad manner. They are IA
nous as ratters and mousers. All
bullsnakes are, but these two were es-
pecially skilled. They were owned by
friend of mine, an orchardist in the
Sonoma valley, and had wide repu-
tatiCn for the celebrity and thorough
ness with which they cleaned out the
rats and mice of any ranch building
! int
friend, earned quite an income loan
ing them out at so much a day to
neighbOrs with vermin-nfested barns.
"Another friend of mine,a vineyard
ist i'll the Napa valley, had an old wine
cellar where mice and rats were so
plentiful it was really discouraging,
especially as his wines are very good
and pleasant to sample, except that
well, mice and rats are not the COM
pany one would select for a wine
sampling afternoon.
well, | told my Napa county friend
of the bullSnakes owned by nv Sono-
ma county friend, and he sent for
them. The first result distressed me,
don't you know; panied me exceed
ingly. Those bullsnakes, with a rep
utation for integrity and strict busi-
ness principles which extended from
Petaluma to Agnews, forgot their early
training, neglected the rats and mice,
and took to wine drinking in a man
ner really shocking.
You know in those cellars wines
are drawn by hose from one cask TO
another, which requires many open
bungholes. The cellarman became
nervous, for after bit they never
knew when they approached a cask
whether the black thing hanging out
of the bung was section of hose or
Patsy or Napoleon"
Petite paused to sip little absinthe
and water. He had given up wine
drinking.
"A curious thing about a drunken
snake is" he resumed, chat instead
of moving forward on its belly in a
crooked line it moves backward on its
back in straight line. But every
thing came out all right"
"Indeed?"
"Oh, yes. | sent the snakes down
to Los Gatos, where they took the
keeley cure. They are back in NV
friends wine cellar. hard at work and
dead sober. They've cleared out every
mouse in the cellar except few red
and green ones | noticed the last time
| went there"