The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-09-29
IFIELDS OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.

Gray in n Single Night.
Five years ago James F. Burns was
working as plumber in Colorado
Springs, and thanking his stars that
he was able to earn So. so aweek. To-
day he is worth between eight and ten
millions of dollars. He is the Presi-
dent of the Portland Mining Company,
the richest concern of the kind in
Colorado, perhaps in America. And
he is thirty-fve years old.
Twice before he was rich man, and
twice he lost all he had. His third
fortune, he says, nothing can wrest
from him.
Itwas in Cuba that he hada terrible
experience, and if you hear him tell of
it, see the beads of perspiration that
form on his brow, the agony in his
voice, you can understand how real is
the memory of it.
1t occurred in Cuba, about fifteen
miles from Cienfuegos, where the
foliage and underbrush are denser than
on any other part of the island. He and
some companions were looking for a
suitable place in which to start sugar
refinery. One night, when the heat
was almost unbearable, he left the tent
and went to spot about hundred
yards distant, where there appeared to
be better breeze. He made his bed
and fell asleep. 1t was just before
daylight that he felt that he was awake,
although he was really having night
mare, to which he was more or less
subject. You shall read his own
words:
81 felt that was in the basement
of building twenty stories high, and
that it was gradually sinking upon me.
Every avenue of escape was cut of.
The walls appeared to be cutting into
the earth like knife. Hay there par
alyzed with fear and thesense of help
lessness. could not move hand or
foot.
''The stone floor above me seemed
to sink an eighth of an inch at q time.
Nearer and nearer it came until L
could touch it above me. shouted.
There was no noise, no creaklng,
nothing but a horrible silence and
the sinking of the building.
II could no longer stand erect. l
Law on the ground and waited, now
and then shrieking in terror. l saw
the old farm. l saw my mother
standing at the kitchen door.
''The building seemed to settle
more swiftly. I stretched myself
prone upon the floor. I could teel
the weight upon my head and chest.
No human being can know the awful
agony of it. I felt myself plunging
into the abyss of death and-then I
awoke.
"The Weakening was more frightful
than the dream. I found myself in
the coils of a huge boa constructor.
The monster snake had wound coil
after coil about my body and was
slowly and surely crushing the life
out of me.
''I tried to raise my voice. The
pressure about my lungs made my
voice as weak as a babe's. I could
see the Shiny thing forming another
coil and drawing tighter and tighter
about me.
ga boyish habit of curling my left
arm under my head for rest while l
slept saved my life. Ny left arm was
free. The other was in the coil of
the snake. Preached for my hunting
knife, which was in my belt, forcing
my hand over and around the body of
the snake. 1t seemed hours before I
could reach it. Then it was but the
work of moment to sever the con-
strictor's body. Even then I was not
free. It was half IN hour before I
cut the coil from my body. I was
drenched in blood.
"When I went to sleep that night
there was not gray hair in my head.
That morning it was as white as you
see it now"
Burns left Cuba soon after that ex-
perience. AS he expresses it, he
found that luck was against him and
the extortion of the Spaniards was
more than he could stand. g.