Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-01-08
all the vitality of these dangerous parts
o,d na,, fanoe will not come in

S~SA~s
all the vitality of these dangerous parts
and new fangs will not come in.
"The rattlesnake never pursues his
prey; he waits. He will not 60 out of
his way to attack anything. He will
invariably keep on his course if not
cornered or teased. You may step
within four inches of rattlesnake and
will not be disturbed by it if you keep
right on your way. If you stop, the
snake at once will take it for chal.
lenge and hit you only too quick. 1t
is said, as if by authority, that the
rattlesnake never sounds his rattle
until he has coiled. If that is so, rat
tlesnakes have seen must have been
freaks, for they have ratified when ly-
ing at full length and even when NOV
ing, as we'll as in their coils. The
rattler, when travelling, will cross lakes
and streams, and he swims with his
head and his rattles well above the
water. The force with which rattle
snake can strike is such that 1 once
teased one into striking at a piece OF
betting at least a quarter Of an inch
thick, and he sent his fangs clear
through it.
81 don't know whether rattlesnakes
have the power of scent or not, but
from what have heard, and especial.
ly from what I have seen, it would
seem to me that they not only have
that power, but have it in a most re-
markable degree. One summer in
northern Pennsylvania I killed a fine
specimen of a rattler, and carried it
on stick for two miles to the place
where 1 was stopping. A native of
that locality on seeing the snake, said:
"sThat's she rattler and you folks
around here want to watch out. Her
mate will be along looking for her to-
morrow or next day, surep
"I skinned the snake and took the
carcass to the hog pen and gave it to
the hogs and thought no more about
it. Next morning I heard loud
scream from one of the women of the
family, and she came running into the
house declaring that she had seen a
big rattlesnake on the front stoop.
HsFirst time,' she said, that live
rattlesnake has been around. the house
in 25 years.
~ hurried on, but could see nothing
of the snake. 1t occurred to me then
what the native had said about the
mate of the dead snake following her.
I walked toward the hog pen and
there I discovered a rattlesnake NOV
ing to and fro on the ground in front
of the sty, and acting as if it were
looking for place to get in. watch
ed the maneuvres of the snake for a
few minutes and then killed it, and
the native at once declared that it was
the mate of the one I had killed the
day before. The front stoop where
this snake had just made its appear
ance at the house, was the first place
I had stopped with the dead snake
and gone from there to the hog pen.
81 perhaps, in spite of the circum-
stantial evidence against it, would
never have believed that this snake
was anything else but one that had
come casually to the premises, if a
similar incident hadn't occurred a cou-
pie of days later. A man, who was
working in haying on the place lived 4
miles distant and went home Saturday
night to spend Sunday. On bis way
back Sunday afternoon he killed a rat
tlesnake in the road and brought it in.
1t happened to be a female, and warn
ing was given that lookout better be
kept for her mate. AS matter OF
curiosity I took the dead snake from
where it had been laid in the road near
the house and took it to an old vacant
house in the field half a mile down the
road from the place where I was stop
ping. Ileft the snake there, and next
day went back to the old house to see
if any snake would follow it there,
keeping watch along the road. Along
in the middle of the forenoon l saw a
big snake coming down the road and
I got into a clump of bushes. The
snake came into the field. 1t was
rattler, and it made straight for the
house. I followed it. 1t went in at
door. The dead snake lay on the floor.
The live one went up to it and around
it several times, and then lay still,
as if thinking the matter over. l
watched the snake for ten minutes and
he never moved. Then I stepped in
side the door. Like fash the snake
threw himself into coil and faced me,
glaring fiercely, and making his rattles
sing. didn't like his looks and shot
him with my revolver. no longer
had any doubt that the snake of the
week before was the mate to the one
I had killed, and was satisfied that this
one was the mate of the hired mans
victim. But how had they followed
the trails of their dead wives? That's
what has always puzzled me.