Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1896-06-20

the 15-year-old daughter of John Higgs.
She was bitten six times. Mrs. Higgs,
the mother, has always feared snakes,
but she proved herself a heroine by
selling the reptile which coiled about
her daughters leg and trying TO pull
IL of. Miss Mamie and her mother
stood at the front gate at dusk the other
evening chatting with a neighbor. Two
or three of the younger generation of
the Higgs family play noisiiy about
the yard. The gate is rickety picket
affair. which closes by means of
chain and weight Mamie had her right
foot on the chain, and was swinging il
back and forth. The neighbor on the
other side Of the fence said good night
and went away. Mrs. Higgs had turned
to reprimand one of the children leav-
ing Mamie at the gate. Suddenly the
young girl screamed:
oh, mamma. Take it off," AT the
/ same time Mamie rushed toward the
house.
/ Then Mrs. Higgs saw what she had
/ not before had time to observe. An
/ object something like a thick whip
/ thong was dangling from beneath Ma
mics skirts. Only six inches of it was
visible. and as the half crazed girl fed
diagonally across the street toward the
open gate Of neighbours yard it tapped
about her left shoe. coiling and uncoil-
ing like the tentacle of a devil fish.
With each frightened leap she took the
girl uttered scream that was heard
from end to end OF the short street.
Close behind came Mrs. Higgs. trying
in vain to catch her fleeing daughter.
From the nearby house the neighbors
came pouring out like ants from nest.
Mamie had run through the gate of
"Bill" Booths yard and was turning
! the corner OF the house when her moth
1 er caught her. Holding the girl with
one hand Mrs. Higgs reached down and
grasped the snake with the other. The
reptile was gripped so tightly about the
girls leg that Mrs. Higgs could not
move il. The girl was stamping and
screaming and begging the neighbors
to take the snake OF. crying that it was
killing her. Finally she broke away
from her mother and started to run
again. She had taken only few steps
when the thick. ugly reptile loosened its
coils and fell to the ground. Before
anybody had time to kill it, the snake
had crawled away under the stoop of
the house Then Mamie fell to the
ground insensible and was carried over
TO the little brown house and put to
bed. DR.. O'Reilly was sent for. Long
before he arrived the girls legs below
the knee had swollen TO the size OF
stove-pipes and she was suffering terri
bly,. DIR. O'Reilly administered whisky
enough to have made an old topper
drunk, but it had no apparent effect
On the girl
On her leg, below the knee, four
small punctures were found. They were
in pairs, which meant that the snake
had bitten her twice They were wounds
which resembled the priekings of a
hypodermic syringe. Lotions were adj
ministered and the swelling was grad
ually reduced. although the girls gen.
eral condition did not seem to improve
DIR. 0'Reilly found next morning that
the right leg was still badly swollen
He made a close examination and
found that the girl had been bitten
worse. If possible. in the right than in
the left leg. There were four bites
along the calf of the leg. and it was
evident from the young woman's con-
dition that the poison had thoroughly
permeated her system. She suffered
continually from spasms and twitch-
ings of the muscles. followed by an iron