The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-12

hurt. After listening to what Me-
 Gregor told them, and duly weighing
 other evidences of the snakes work,
 the party concluded that Wass had met
 the serpent at the blowhole, had fired
 the rifle into it, and had been captured
 and swallowed whole before he could
 get away. The broken ice cakes were
 taken as proof that the snake had been
 wounded. As for the blood, that might
 have come from Wass or from the in- Ijured snake or from the missing horse.
 which had no doubt been devoured the
 day before.
 | Though there were few men bold
 enough to believe that McGregor had
 made away with Wass and his horse in
 order to get sraall sum of money
 which Wass had with him, and that he
 had invented the snake story to con-
 ceal his crime, most everybody took the
 tale literally, and the hired man con
 tinued to carry on Wass' farm for a
 year, when he married the widow, sold
 out all the property and moved away
 to Nova Scotia where he is now living.
 Having eaten a good-sized horse and
 a fat man inside of two days, the ser
 pent got along on what muskrats and
 pckerel it could catch until Decem-
 Der of last year, when it broke out in a
 new spot and carried off man under
 such peculiar circumstances that mo-
 body could longer doubt It's malevolent
 disposition.
 John Benton was simple-minded
 town pauper, who boarded around with
 the residents who would keep him
 cheaply, the town paying the bills. In
 December 1896, he was employed by
 Henry Driske to go to Chain Lakes
 sWamps and cut cedar timber for fenc-
 ing. As Drisko lived less than a mile
 from the cedar swamp Benton board
 ed and slept at the house, taking his dinner in the woods He used two axes
 about his work, heavy one for felling
 the trees and a light one for cutting the
 limbs Before he had worked a week he had lost two new axes. He had
 stuck them in stump near the lakes while he lugged the poles out on his , back, and when he had come back the axes were gone, His story received lit- , tie credence among the people, because
 they knew he was simple, and though
 few believed that the serpent had
 taken the tools, the general opinion was that Benton had lost them. At the !, end of two weeks Benton was paid off receiving six dollars and a half in cash for his work. One night about the , middle of the third week he did not re- turn to Drisko's so the next morning few men went to look for him. He was not working in any part of the swamp, l though there were plenty of signs which showed that he had lately been at work. Beyond the swamp, on lit= l tie knoll near the lake, was a pile of ashes and charred sticks, under which } the fire was still smouldering. By the side of the fire was Benton's dinner 5 pail, It had been opened and the con , tents were laid out in order, as If he were about to begin his dinner. On a ] limb near by his overcoat was hanging,
 and inside of his overcoat pocket was the money which Drisko had paid him. Two new axes were sticking in the : stumps from which the lost axes had 5 been taken. They hunted all day for f | Benton, but the lost man could not be r l found
 l It was argued that no man, simple or 5 otherwise, would run away on cold t day, leaving an overcoat with money $ in it behind. Benton was very parsi- , monious and six dollars and a half was a. big sum for him. Those who 7 knew him said that he would sooner l part with his life than give up so much 2 money. Having proved to their own , satisfaction that Benton did not run | away, the people at once inferred that : the serpent had taken him while he : i was eating his monday lunch before , the fire.
 l A strange confirmation of this theo- e ry came to light the next day. The Q party was so greatly surprised at the s disappearance of Benton that nobody : thought of the coat and axes after the 2 hunt was over. so they were left in the s woods over night. The following day, t when Drisio went to bring them in, he : found the coat hanging where Benton = had left it, and the money was un- S touched; but both of the new axes had e disappeared, and marked in the light l sncw which had fallen was wide un-
 dulating ribbon of bare ice. such as : nothing but a great snake could have Q made The track ran out to large e blowhole in the lower lake and van e ished, proving beyond doubt that the e creature which had made it had gone e into the lake at that point.
 Q Since Benton disappeared everybody e has been wondering about the axes e and what became of them. Of course n the snake got Benton, the way he did Il Wass and several other men; but mo- : body can see what use serpent can ' have for an axe. Some believe that a s snake swallows his food whole and Q shews it in his stomach by means of n sharp stones. after the manner Of oiru5 l. If so, they think he could get i'll the n stones he wanted from the bottom o1 g the lakes, and if there are no stones lu O the mud of the lakes, an axe ca. hard y ly be called a convenient substitute s particularly an axe with white-asf e handle in 1t. Still. the ways of all ser t pents are mysterious, and the Chair o Lakes snake which Is the strangesi l. creature of his race, may have uses fol :, axes that nobody knows anything # about It is very certain that the axes ?. didn't hurt him any if he swallowed e them, for a week ago his sinuous trai it was seen about the blowholes, looking y wider and more kinky than in pas d wears. and the hunters who have beer l. in the swamps looking for rabbits re h port the poorest luck they have evel d experienced.-New York Sun.
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