The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-09
THE LAND OF BIG BLAOKsNAKEs.
A Sunday Afternoon Stroll in q Wood on
the Border of Maryland.


You may not know said Col. F. B. Schoch.
formerly Of York county. Pa. that the border
line of Pennsylvania and:Maryland. or. rather.
the country along it. seems to be peculiarly
adapted to the propagation Of big snakes.
There Is in particular q family Of blaoksnakes
in that region so given to growth that only
small ones Of the race excite any l
will say that I myself have never seen one Of
these snakes that was more than ten feet long.
but I have the word OF q ,neighbor Of mine,
8 bS a friend kis%dP o ~ h hsn j. G! %ey nS Is fhGGr one sSni
day afternoon not long, ago he and his friend
Meyers were walking along the Melrose road
in, the road. which:is very little used.
this w eoa6 62 You %n: suB BRIsyeis sSn sa "a SSi9 e faae e2sfa!
nerve replied Meyers, and he must have a tire
They measured the track. II was four
and ended. Then for the first time 1t struck
the two men, that the track had begun in the
road as suddenly as 1t had come to an end
that was that the track had been made by a
"Zeppand Meyers went on with hurried steps.
and, had gone but a short distance when sud:
a6sei Eo s1 eIR nto a2e ROAD Slfekf II hsd g st eosf p SSs 81
ant In its mouth, and was dragginG il along by
the neck; The snake kept the road and tray.
two men. had recovered from their astonish-
ment. Then, satisfied that 1t was not a spook
road. they went on. with their minds at ease.
The great trail followed the road for near
y ain m asa T dlsapp It S9Fned Half sHi% a ni See tE M4Res
d AZ = CASH, This time it had a RABBIT IN It's
I.ordG exclaimed zepp. He has Gulped
that big s6Eh heHsant' and now he's going to swal-
This tim the snake did not follow the road,
but crossed i. and It really made Zepp and
Meyers 6HG IS fbn little tn,L sq%diIs snnDs when \ they S w say the he
one side OF the road some time before. its tail
came out OF the woods on the other side.
Half a mile further on they zane to Andy
hunter, and when, zepp and Meyers told him
gun. and and started out to see II h G Couldn't H do
something in the line of snake hunting. Zepp
and Meyers went along to see the fun. or I
That must be the uncommonest snake that
was ever freed around here. or YOU wouldn't
made no such fuss
The hunters soon, got to the dog and at
once saw that he had good cause to make a
fuss. Two snakes lay stretched on the rocks.
They we're as black as coal. or they could easily
low the neck; Andy Elite shot both. Of them
so in the bushes that the dog osfS and 2e Irou and
Meyers ran AVA. The snakes gave up at last
and Andy cut them open. Just as Zepp and
Meyers got courage enough to come back. In
one, was q cock pheasant and in the other a
rabbit, The snake that had swallowed the
rabbit had a mules shoe in Its stomach; This
led 70 the report, when the news q the killing
OF the. two snakes was carried 10 Melrose, that
one OF the snakes had swallowed a mule. This
was found out later to be untrue, as the
as one, that he had tied around the neck OF q
Kitten he had thrown into the mtllP9nd a week
capped from the pond. and run up against the
snake somewhere. and the snake at once took
her in; shoe and al. The smaller q tie
other IL feet o. inches, They. were. larger
by four feet or SO than the usual run OF black
snakes on the Maryland border, at least. larger
than any, / ever saw. and II, Isn't likely. that
you ever knew there were snakes on the Mary
land border even ~ big - THAI"