The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-06-24
FIELDS OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA. -

Startling Experience With Rattle
snake-scaring Wolves by Yelling
Attacked by Huge Octopus.
She lived in Placer County, not far
from where the pretty town of Auburn
! now stands, for it happened many
years ago, in the early '6O's, and l ex-
oect that but few now residing there
have any recollections of the affair.
The family, consisting of father, a
miner, her mother and little brother,
lwelt in small shanty erected under
cover of a convenient ledge. The
shanty was miserable structure of
two rooms, but it held what a many
grander dwelling failed to contain,
loving household. The mother lay sick
with the fever, and Carmen, then
girl of twelve, performed the drudgery
Of the house. Her. little brother, a cur
ly-headed romp, of five, was Carmen's
great responsibility. The father was
away from early morning until late at
night at his work, and so the little
hands of twelve found plenty to do. In
common with the custom of miners,
the father kept store of giant powder
in the house, which in the present
case was contained in sack placed in
an old wooden box that stood at the
foot of the bed where lay the sick
mother. The upper part Of the shsnty,
under the sloping board roof, was uti-
lied as a storage place for old dun
mage.
One night the futher was absent in
the mine. By some means the shanty
took fire, probably from the cracked
and defective adobe chimney. Carmen
awoke to find that the roof was afire
and sparks dropping down. Springing
up she loudly cried to awaken her
mother and Tommy, but the little boy
became frightened and hid his head
beneath the covers of his bed. Carmen
sprang to lift him from the bed, when
she saw shower of sparks falling on the
powder box. Recognizing the awful
danger, she attempted to leave the
child for the moment and carry out
the powder, but in her excitement she
caught her foot in the overhanging
bedclothes and fell to the floor, break
ing her thigh bone. Unable to arise,
the brave girl crawled to the box Of
powder and, drawing herself up, COW
cred the box with her body. The
mother had by this time succeeded in
getting out of bed and getting outside
the now furiously burning shanty, and
managed to take with her her little
boy.
The cries of Carmen: "Oh, take
Tommy out, won't you!" turned for o
time the mothers thought from her
daughters danger. The fire had
aroused some of the neighbors who
speedily ran to the burning shanty and
lent what aid they could. Carmen
was discovered and removed. Her
rescuers found her almost buried be-
meath q mass of burning cinders, her
back frightfully burned. Tender hands
bore her to a neighboring shanty,
where all that could be done to allevi-
| ate her sufferings was eagerly bestowed.
But human aid came too late. The
brave little spirit fingered until the
following day and then departed for a
brighter land. It was not..known un-
til after she had recovered conscious
ness, a short time before she died, that
she had broken her leg. Her last words
were: "Kiss me, Tommy, dear; I've
| saved you, and I'm so happy."-San
Francisco Call.
Startling Experience With a Rattlesnake.
'The rattlesnake, owing to the
danger signal which he sounds at the
approach of man, is less dreaded in
the Southwest than the tarantula or
centipede, says a mining engineer in
| the New York Sun. "But when sleep
ing, particularly in the night, he may
be trodden on before he springs his
rattle, and then he strikes instantly,
without warning. In cool nights he
sometimes seeks the warmth of a
campers blankets, as a friend of mine
| found one night in the lower Gila
Valley. Waking one night from his
sleep in the open air he thought his
blankets felt very heavy upon him,
| and rising, with them still rolled
about him, he shook to the ground
two large rattlesnakes that had been
resting comfortably above his body
and legs. As they struck the ground
they coiled at once and set up q
rattling that was more effective than
any alarm clock could have been to
rouse the sleepers in the camp. The
blankets about him saved my friends
legs and feet from their fangs, and the
two snakes were killed where they
were with q surveyors staff.
ga more gruesome and startling e1-
perience was that of another man 1
knew, and it occurred in the same
valley. Sleeping on the ground he
dreamed that he was in the coils of q
boa constructor and that his only
chance for life was to keep the rep
tiles head away from him. He woke
to find himself with his right hand
clutching huge rattlesnake by the
head and neck, while the reptile was
writhing and twisting powerfully to
get free. As he held him the snake