Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-02-05
TRUE SNAKE STORIES.
Lady Tells of the Reptiles She Saw In
Ohio Fifty Years Ago.

Lady Tells of the Reptiles She Saw In
Ohio Fifty Years Ago.
There were many more snakes, ven
omous ones, too. in southern Ohio %
wears ago than there are today. re-
member once the men who were at
work upon our farm called us to the
field to see what they had found. They
had moved large rock, and underneath
it was a snakes nest. 1t was only
hole with eight eggs in it, but these
were as large as small hen eggs, with
shell like the lining Of an ordinary egg
shell, only thicker. In every one Of them
was packed, tightly coiled, snake from
six to eight inches long and as thick as
a rye straw. They never found the old
snake.
Once our men were moving a great
log that lay in a field A little boy who
lived with us went to watch them. AS
the log rolled over, tremendous copper
head snake leaped out from it and hit
the boy. The men killed the snake, and
we did everything we knew to save the
Door lad, but III very short time his
body was covered with spots like the
spots upon the snake. The side that was
bitten swelled terribly. The boy did not
die then, but he never was we'll after
ward. He Suffered at first from fright
full attacks of nightl S,re, which seemed
as he grew to manhood to develop into
epilepsy. He died when he was 81.
An hour after the boy was bitten the
men found in the same spot another
huge copperhead snake, the mate to the
one they had already killed.
Near the side door Of our house was
an old apple tree, and birds had built
their nests in decaying limb. One day
heard terrible screeching and noise
out there, and I went to see what was
the matter. AT the root of the tree lay a
snake. It had captured two birds. Ono
was in its mouth. The other, strangely
enough, it held fast coiled in the end OF
it's tail. As / came on the scene it start
ed to run, but it could not run very far
with bird at each end, and l got a
stick and quickly killed it. The birds
were both dead 1t has always been a
mystery to Inc how that snake, which
was about 81 feet long, got down the
tree with those two birds.
One of cur tenants set up q box on the
end of long pole for the martin birds
to come and make their nests in. The
pole was 25 feet high. The box was soon
inhabited. One day the man heard a
noise at the box. He went out and found
the birds in great distress, ,chirruping and
futtering. At length he saw snake S
head peering out of the martin box. He
went into the house, got his gun, took
aim at the head and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Ho did not SEQ anything for q
moment Then the body of a huge
black snake slowly unrolled outside the
box and fell to the ground. 1t was five
feet long.
One day when I was in the cellar
saw snake running into hole in the
wall. I caught it by the tail, as knew
the hole was not large enough for the
creature to turn and bite me. wound
the tail around my fingers and waited.
on to its tail till I felt it getting weak
and limp. Then jerked it out of tht
hole and beat it to death.
We had a fine, noisy flock Of guineaE
one summer, and the hens all laid theil
eggs in one nest. Soon the eggs begar
to be stolen out every day. We could moi
account for it, But one morning wher
the farm men were clearing away an ole
stump about mile and half from the
guinea nest, under the stump they fount
black snake, which they Immediately
killed. They noticed it looked very fa
indeed, so they cut it open. Then they
found where the guinea eggs had gone
The black snake had quite a number O.
them in its insides
Once our men found one of those
horrible snake dens in which these rep
tiles house themselves together in win
ter. The men were repairing the road
and in the course of their work took on
by the roots decayed tree stump. Un
derneath it they found an awful nest O
snakes. They began killing the creature
as rapidly as they could, but the odor o
the snakes was SO horrible that some o
the men had to be carried away from
the spot MRS. J. w. ARCHARD.