The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-13
Some Spring Snake Stories.

Speaking Of snakes did you ever see one
swallow live fish," The speaker was one
of party Of gentlemen who had just finished
a bottle Of wine. says the Indianapolis
Journal. As none Of them had ever seen the
performance referred to, he proceeded to de-
scribe fl in graphic style, W Pen ne got
through Judge =. said: when l lived IN
Texas we usei to depend mainly on snakes
for our eEEs" What said an elderly gen
tleman. who was a little hard Of hearing did
you eat snakes eggs:'
found hens eggs in the 5 akes. You see.
snakes are very fond OF eggs, and down there
they make business OF hunting Tor eggs
They would go from one mes, to another
swallowing egg after egg until they could mold
no more. and when they we're too full to move
they were easily captured. As they swallowed
the eggs whole il wOald BE- good while be-
fore the contents would be hurt, and if the
snake was killed before the shell was diges-
ted the eggs would be all right. I once took
1873 fresh hens eggs from one snake. 5 l
knew the snake had stolen the eggs, had no
eompunctiOn ABOUT stealing from him.
Did you eat them all: asked the elderly
gentleman.
or three dozen, and traded the rest of for to-
baccO."
Were the eggs in a pile when you cut the
snake OPEN asked the elderly gentleman,
as if in Sc arch Of truth.
NO" re Jlicd the Judge. "they were lying in
a row lengthways in the snake s stomach
But 81 ggested the elderly gentleman.
1875 eggs lying in a row lengthwise would
make pretty long line
We'll, replied the judge, this was long
snake
snake story. well gentlemen he SAID,
You can elieve ii or not. but l have seen
snake swallow live goat" I guess you
mean rabbit, Phillip SAID the Judge. NO,
sir. / mean a goat was the reply. Then he
went on to describe the operation; how the
snake first charmed the goat, then shot a
stream of slime. covering iJ all over, then
got It in its mouth. and finally swallowed it
alive and kicking, hoofs, hons and all. He
said he could prove it, II his brother was
alive
Up to this time an auburn haired gentle
man. with long, flowing, gOlden-hued whiS
kers, had listened in silence. Laying down
h cigar. he said: "Wen. gentlemen. I have
seen snakes, too, in my time, and III tell you
true story of what saw one do. When
was IN Arkansas. IN the lumber business,
used to spend good deal of time hunting
One day had tracked deer to the bank Of
the Mississippi river, and was so close on his
trail that when L got near the bank saw him
Jump into the water and strike out for the OPP
poSte snOre. To my surprise. huge snake
Jumped in after him and commenced a hot
pursuit. he snake was not more than fifteen
yards lehlnd the deer, and although the lat
ter was swimming for life. the snake slowly
gained on him. The river was high. and all
kinds of drift were floating down-rails, hen
cOOpS, OuthouSeS, etc About the middle of
the Stream was a good sized patch OF drift.
with 2story frame house on it. The house
was empty, but the kitchen fire was not out,
and smoke was coming out of the chimney.
The deer made straight for this patch of
drift, and, by good luck, succeeded in clam
bering on to it.
As soon as he got foothold he darted in
side the house, evidently thinking that a safe
refuge from the snake. The snake was then
more than four or five yards from the drift
and gong a full speed. Reaching the floating
mass he made several attempts to follow the
deer. but he could not get out of the water.
Try his best. he could not get on top OF the
drift. Finally he seemed TO change his
mind, and turned and swan some distance
down stream and then turned with his head
up stream. The deer was standing in the
front door of the house. and / could almost
see the hair raise on his rack as the snake
caught his eye: The snake had Onened it's
mouth, ana was apparently lying still in the
stream. while the clump of drift noAte1 to-
ward him. AS it approached him, L won
dered what he was gong to do. 1 thought he
would maze another effort to get at tho deer.
but instead of that ne lust oIened his mouth
about four times as wide as 1t was before,
and before l knew what he was up TO he had
swallowed the whole layou.-driftwoOd ,
dwelling house, deer and all" After this
nobody spoke for minute or two, when the
judge ventured to remark that it must have
been a very small house. Not 50 very
small said the auburn haired man. but the
breed of snakes l am speaking OF have very
large mouths"