The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-30
CORRlLLED BY RATLERS.
An Army Engineers Exciting Night
on a Mountain in the Northwest.
from The Kansas city journal.


From the Kansas City Journal.
I'VE reached the Wolf mountain, in the
Big Horn country one day in September"
said II. p. futile, formerly an army en-.
gineer, while to the south were dimlJ
visible the outlines Of the Rattlesnake
Mountains. These names were given to
these mountains by both the Crow and
Sioux Indians, who regarded them with
horror. Late in the afternoon of our first
day in these mountains I sent all Of my
party to camp about two miles to the
southwest. Going forward with my tran
sit to where I had sent my head flag
man. placed it in position and told him
he could return to camp. as had to re-
main in order TO make an astronomical
observation early in the evening.
Taking off his belt, which held a huge
revolver and a sheath knife about a foot
in length, he handed it to me. saying
that l might need IL after dark, as he
had just seen a small pack of wolves
ahead. After he had gone I looked over
the ground about me and saw that I was
on 1at-topped hill covered with large
boulders and small stones, but entirely
destitute Of vegetation. Seating myself
beside a big boulder I took out my
for the day. when darkness suddenly re-
minded me that X was about time to make
my astronomical observations This was
soon over, and ] started off at a brisk
walk toward our camp.
Il had not gone over a hundred yards
when l saw, few feet ahead of me, a
long, black object lying directly in my
path. 1 wanted a walking stick badly,
and was stopping down to pick 1t up,
when 1 noticed the end Of it furthest
from me was white. Taking a match
from my pocket and tearing a leaf from
the back Of my notebook, l soon had the
desired light, and what was my horror
to see the supposed stick was nothing
but one Of the deadly green rattlesnakes
completely paralzed by the chilly night
air.
Another light showed that the white
object was the snakes rattles! So old
was he that his rattles had turned white.
Holding my revolver within foot of his
head 1 fired and blew II entirely off; but
now came another surprise, which for q
moment made me tremble. The report
of my revolver had awakened dozens Of
rattlers who had sought shelter under
the loose rocks before sunset. The
sounds came from all directions and some
seemed close to my feet
ITO one who has been in the forest and
heard the noise made by hundreds of
| locusts, he can readily realize my situa-
/ ton, for the buzz of a rattlesnake is OK
actly like the buzz Of a locust The only
thing now for me to do was to stand
/ in my tracks all night or make my way
/ back to the boulder from which ] start
ed: but there was u difficulty, for in the
/ excitement / had forgotten the dlrec-
ton. But where there is a will there
/ IS d way and by stopping down and
scanning the horizon l soon detected the
outline of my transit against the sky,
and cutting Off the rattles l was soon be-
side the boulder and filled with excite
ment enough for one night.
Sitting down by the boulder I made I'D
my mind to pass the night at that spot.
and was soon sleeping as soundly as one
/ can in the open air with only a canvas
coat and the mercury below freezing.
About midnight l was suddenly aroused
/ by something trying to pull off the shoe
from my left foot. In an instant 1
/ caught the glaring eyes and outline of a
wolf. He had given up his grip as he
| saw me move, and mechanically | seized
/ my revolver (Which / had left lying in
my lap) and fired as best l could with
my half frozen hand.
"A loud yell showed that he had been
/ struck, and Immediately dozen or more
/ wolves who had been close by set up a
/ bowling, which in the stil air could have
been heard for miles around. For an hour
or two all was quiet when a solitary
| howl a few yards from me was answered
| by dozen others not a hundred yards
away. 1t was too dark to see an animal
of the size of a wolf more than twenty
feet away but, trusting to luck, 1 took
the direction of the pack as near as Dos
! sible and sent three shots at them as ran
idly as l could fire
"A couple of yells showed two had been
hit, most probably by glancing bullets
Soon after this the bowling of the wolves
ceased, and for awhile all was quiet
again. / had no fear of a direct at
tack from the wolves at that season of
the year; but had it been winter l should
have taken rufuge on top of the boulder
and use my revolver. when every shot
/ would have had to tell
LAS soon as it was light enough I picked
up the string of rattles which 1 had Sc
cured 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 Law the
clearly picked bones of a wolf which one
of my random shots had killed during
the night, and on which the coyotes had
made a substantial meal but, not salts
fed with this, they had devoured the
big RATHER had killed, head and all
Returning to camp ordered one of my
men to cut ten small poles, not less Ian
eight feet in length, and to wake me up al
10 o'clock At that hour we all started
for the place where l had passed the
night Here we found, as I had expected
the warm rays of the sun had brought
out the snakes from the hiding places 10
bask in the sunshine
1--WE were greeted with a defiance not
unlike that of a thousand July locusts.
and the work of destruction began in
I earnest. In one hour and ten minutes
our bag contained 213 rattlers, varying
/ from one foot to over three feet in length.
and Of a dark green color. Only two
were found whose rattles had turned
gray. We could have destroyed hundreds
more had our time not been too valu-
able to waste in such sport. We saw but
few rattlers after leaving this point bur
: the wolves made night hideous until we
reached the Little Missouri river, a month
/ later"
Treetop-Now. les look at that SIGN