Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-06
HOGS AS SNAKE KILLERS
How Twenty-Five Porkers Vaaquished an
Army Of Rattlers.
Five Hundred in an Hour and Half
Uncle John Lake Kidding Cow
Ranch of the Reptiles.
California Letter, New York Times.


| The southern end of this state is noted
| for its rattlesnakes, and many adventures
are reported with the reptiles. A desper
| ate and almost Understandable battle between
| a horde of rattlesnakes anu bunch of
hogs occurred a few days ago on John
| Lakes place at the foot of the San Jacinto
mountain. This branch of the San Bernar-
| dino spur of the coast range has long been
| noted as the home and rendezvous OF thou
| sands of rattasnakes of the dusky brown
| species, which have been looked upon with
! dread by hunters because they have al
| ways been exceedingly aggressive and dan
gerous. For years this mountain had been
| the terror and dread OF the people CT the
| vicinity, and it was seldom that any travel
er or hunter had the temerity to cross the
ridge at near certain point, so hume
| re Us and deadly were the poisonous reptiles.
But all that has been changed. owing to
the fact that John Lake has imported from
North Carolina bunch of loEg-nosed, long
legged hogs, which. from their elongated
appearance, have been dubbed 'slugdiS-
gers" Uncle John had been 50 pestered
and annoyed by the army of snakes which
infested his COW ranch that he set his wits
to work. and finally hit upon the plan OF
importing these iank and bony swine,
which had the reputation of being lEVeter-
ate enemies of the snake family. He haul
Ell over the mountains twenty-five big hogs
of this species. and placed them in pens.
where they We're well fed aud treated.
When the Old man concluded that his
muscular pets were sufficiently accl;mated
and at home he released Them and early
in the morning, while it was yet cool and
the snakes were half benumbed or asleep.
he went up the mountain to a spot where
he knew the reptiles d|clt by the thou
sand. All along the path ne dropped ears
of corn until he reached the side of the
snake pit, a sunken spot Oh the side of the
mountain. embracing about half an acre.
Here he threw down a bushel of loose corn.
and, with his boys, took shelter in low
tree. Within few minutes the satisfied
grunts of the porkers were heard as hey
followed the trail of corn, until the Whole
drove of hogs broke into view from the un-
derbrush.
They came on until they arrived at the
pit, where they stood for minute or two
until the old boar. immense fellow, came
Up, when he took the lead and went gruTt-
ing down the bank into the pit. All the
other members of the family followed. I'M
til the twenty-five hogs We're IN the small
amphitheater of half acre. BY the time
they had thoroughly cleaned up the corn
the snakes, aroused by the heat CT the
morning sun and the noise Of the porkers,
began to appear from the crevices a
dozen and then twenty, then several hun
dred 1attlers writhed their E+he bodies
from their holes and looked at the hogs
with shining eyes and darling tongues
Two three hun 1red snakes in mass of
Shiny, surg:Eg bodies began to draw them
crawled more than thirty or forty feet
away from the craSices in the rocks before
the old boar gave shr.ll infsiriated squea1
when the whole drove of hogs was among
its enemies.
The scene which followed cannot be put
in words. The few spectators would not
have missed the sight for ranch. The
hogs charged their enemies picking them
up in tkeir jaws and trampling them under
foot, while the snakes shook their rattles
and struck their enemies with their fangs.
The fight. ragged for half an hour hog re-
treating for moments rest, and then re-
charging into the midst of the writing
mass, ripping and tranlplirg the snakes
until the ground was literally covered with
their squrmng bodies. At time the
old boar almost covered with snakes,
but he didn't appear to care for their bites
or their poison. He would reach around.
catch a snake in his Jaws, throw it to the
ground. and then hold it there with his
feet l4til he tore its body to pieces. This
be kept up for half an hour. retreating but
once for a breath of air or a brief rest.
when back he went again. In less than an
hou" the hogs conquered, not one snake
berg left alive, except few which had
succeeded in reSainins the crevices before
the hogs had Ganked them
After vanquishing the army of snakes
the porkers lay down among the dead bod
les of their enemies until they had sufi-
GENTLY rested when they again aroused
themselves and. led by the old boar they
began to root up and turn over the rocks,
every now ard then exposing a RATHER
which had hidden his body away from his
porcine enemy. When snake was thus
exposed. there was rush. and in fifty
that RATHER was torn into little bits. In an
hour and half not living snake could be
found and the hogs were to all appear
ances as sound and hearty ever. Uncle
John then picked up his feed sack and
made trail of corn back to the house
but the hogs did not follow seeming to
prefer the flesh OF the snakes to the corn
Ever since then the drove of hogs has re-
manned in the mountains, coming home
only to get change of food. The hogs
have cleaned out the snakes Uncle John
says that there were not less than 800 rat
tlesnakes killed in the fight, and not one
hog was hurt.