The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-04
INDIAN Mills BIG SNAKE rs DEAD.
Consequence OF tho Discovery OF = New
Use for Empty beer bottles.

NOnuGQufnCCN OF tho OI - wow
Use for Empty beer Bottles.
EAST BucKsPonr. Me-, April Tom Hew-
ey's discovery of a ring. neck snake twenty
feet log and as big around rs a water pail
on the side Of Indian Hill last Saturday after
noon has kept the residents of this place In a
state of anxiety ever since. and has indirectly
led to the practical determination of all the
muskrats in Hancock county. From n time
which is now too old to remember on until to-
day, the waters around the foot of Indian Hill
have been famous for their big bullfrogs and
sleek muskrats. A man standing on top of this
hill, which is a mile back from the crossroads
watering trough, can fire a sixteen-shot maya.
zine rifle and hit sixteen different ponds, every
one Of which is a prosperous muskrat nursery,
wherein are raised pelts enough to furnish all
the standing army of the United States with
fur overcoats.
Though no ono seriously doubts that musk
rat skins were made for muskrats. the length
of time which these animals wear their coats
depends wholly upon the market quotations of
peltry. Tor instance. when skins are cheap,
the countryside children go barefooted until
late In the fall, and take off their shoe. and
stockings long before the house banking is re-
moved in the spring; but let the price of fur 70
up one half and a bare foot is hard to find
even in July, while an unskinned muskrat is a
novelty worth waiting all night to see.
So 1t comes to pass that u man-though a
wayfarcr and n dullard-can tell the state OF
the fur market by observing The people. If
tatters and semi-nuditv prevail, the muskrats
are warmly clad; but If the rcsidents are we'll
dressed then one may know for sure that the
poor animals have given up both clothing and
life for the prosperity of mankind.
Hewey's discovery of the snake was %unfortu-
nate for tho reason that he had just learned in
Bangor that muskrat skins had gone up in the
market from dull at 20 cents to 40 and so cents
sharp; and knowing that his neighbors. who
would hunt muskrats,, would naturally fear to
beer as well as several jugs of fluid which was
neither molasses Lor kerosene. Forgetting to
boys started for the streams Sunday morning,
and reaching favorable places they divided up
into small parties for the purpose Of bunting
muskrats by the Long Pond method. AS is
well known to naturalists, the muskrat.
though breathing air. passes a good portion OF
ponds. where 1t deposits bubbles of atmosphere
At convenient places. Then, II a muskrat wants
with its lungs full of air. and swims TO the
next reservoir. where the vitiated atmosphere Is
exchanged for fresh. and so keeps on swapping
These bubbles OF air. left between the ice
and water, soon become fresh and ready to
Station" "Ssi muskrats can 20 ali over the pond
without fear of suffocation. The hunters
who are familiar win III. ways Of muskrats
ice is not too thick they will stand bv n bubble
and wait until their prey comes along, when
can he easily caught. As one man can readily
watch n half a dozen bubbles In clear Ice at
the same time. and as u smart boy is as good
as or better than IA man. the number of pelts
captured in a day brings in a good income.
this form of killing through tho early winter
Ice, the Maine game laws have lately been
changed. so that close time on muskrats CON
tinues to March i md begins again May i.
allowing but two months open season in the
year.
1t was a charitable law, made for the purpose
of preserving the muskrat from extinction, but
it failed to work this year. The winter was
was so thick that It could defy anything from
IA ten-inch rifle shot TO a cathode ray. Then a
warm rain came on and the hills perspiTed for
arrived there was five feet of water over the
pond Ice, so that the freeze resulted In a six.
Inch crust of ice en- top, u deep stratum OF water
below, then the old fee which had been form
ing ali winter. and finally the water of the pond
This shallow pond between the two partitions
of Ice was turned. into a playground for the
muskrats until the hunters found them out,
when IL was made over for a slaughter house.
Nearly n thousand pelts were secured in one
week from Long Pond. and the hunters were
doing equally well on the other ponds. when a
lazy genius invented II plan of wholesale exter-
animation. His name was Bob c lark. and though,
his yet time ne' in em ny t beer bottles '% as % a safe
49, s'''> 80 Nfssi'N 100,
guard against the great snake Of Indian Hill,
which was reported To be roaming down the
slope toward the pond.
Beer. which Is said to deaden the wits of
most men, served to quicken Clark's ideas, and
when he had made away with two cases an
inspiration met him head-on. Putting quick
lime into empty bottles and pouring in all the
water they would hold, he securely fastened
through the ice. The water. uniting with the
lime, generated steam and other gases. which
put on such u pressure that tho bottles burst
one after another, lifting fra Iments of ice and
great masses Of water high In mir, and killing
nearly every fish aud muskrat there was In the
pond.
The profits from this general slaughter were
So great that n cart load Of beer was ordered
they organized u grand hunt for the big snake,
IIewey went up along the road and pointed out
the spot where the snake was lying on the side
of the hill. sticking their toes into cracked
hedges and holding on by %saplings. they reached
the reptiles lair and found nothing but n
crook ed log, so glazed in ice ms TO look like
fish scales. Tho snake was dead.