The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-05
DIED IN DEN Of RAI1lERS
SHOCKING FATE OF LEM WILL
SON OF NORTH CAROLINA.
Serpents By Hundreds Reused From
Their Winter Rest By His Camp
ire-Man and Snake Cremated.
Chicago Inter OCEAN,


This1is the true story CT how trifiing
Lem Wilson was cremated in wild
mountain cave with 800 furious rattle
snakes. For years the facts have been
known to the rough inhabitants of the
mountains of North Carolina, though
the grewsome story was never told
outside until a week or two ago, when
! the facts were gathered by a party of
reliable people from Charleston. On
the spot where the terrible death oc-
CURED there is a mound of earth and
/ a plain stone put there to mark grave
which was never dug, and once year
a broken hearted wife and fatherless
girl journey over to the spot TO place
| a few strands of mountain flowers and
! to shed tears over one who was loved
despite his faults.
From Brevard to ToXaway, over a
mountain road, Tom Arson every sum-
mer drives the little stage coach to
carry people who, have Travelled far to
| find the cool retreats; The other day
! the stage was numbering on when one
of the horses SHE'D. 'Rattlesnake,"
cried Tom, for he had learned to spy
the serpents by the movement of his
I steeds. Looking carefully ahead, Tom
saw a rattlesnake hiding under bush.
Nearby was another monster, and four
yards away there was still another. In
two minutes every snake was dead.
and the coach went rafting on The
killing of the snake caused Arson to
grow reminiscent
..Them's nothin','' said the driver,
for in my time 1 have seen 800 snakes
at one time, an never took no whisky
in my life It's the truth I'm tellin' if
/ never speak in"
Pressed to tell this wonderful story,
Arson said: -
Ever know old Lem Wilson," he
began. '.Well, he lived in Henderson
county, out on Blue Ridge. He married
Aunt Sally Harkins. She had three.
Jim an me was about the same age
Ebenezer. we always call him Eben,
was about 20. an Hiram was just II
when the snake fight come off. had
been stayin' over to the Wilson's two
or three days when Sunday come. an
we was all fixin'sto go to meetin' down
to the >old. camp ground.
Right after breakfast | seen Uncle
Lem; start as if he were goin' to the
spring, but he. wasn't: ii was TO the
whisky still he was going. 1t was
there that he spent most of his time.
an. worried poor Aunt Sally most to
death. This still was mighty cute
place. You couldn't find it less you
knowed right where to go. There was
a kind of a siantin openin' to a cave in
the. solid rock. an it was about ten
feet square. The floor was all rock.
too, an except for them snakes nobody
would have knowed about that still till
judgment day. The revenue officers
suspicionedit was there, but they never
found it.
Uncle Lem he went to the still an
the boys an me we started to meetin'.
We got home late, nigh shutdown, an
as we went on the porch Aunt Sally
says: Jim. I'm worried about your
Loft
Hadn't you better look him up?'
Cave Full of Rattlesnakes.
".All right ma, don't you worry; II
bring him home in no time says Jim
an then he started to the still. Me an I
the other boys took up the water buck I
ct an started to go as far as the spring
with him. Jim.' he went ahead, an We
all stood laughin' an talkin' at the
spring. In about two minutes Jim
come runnin' back, fookin' like a dead
man. an saying, Boys, for God sake ,
come with me-
I'VE run as fast as we could go, an !
as we got to the cave such a noise an |
such a smell as you can never tel
about. Snakes, of course, 1 knowed at
once. We climbed ON the top of the
slant an looked in an. as 1 am Twin |
sinner, that place was full of rattle !
OF them, Such |
hissin' an rattIin' an crawlin a body
never heard about e,or=-
There on the floor lay Uncle Ben
He was turned plum black an swelleS
as big as three men. Them snakes kept
bitin' him. Man. it was awful; / hate
to remember. it. We stayed there like
we was dumb an lame till Eben he /
come to himself an said:
"Ill go for Mr.. HILL Hiram go Il
Jake Anders. Don't tell ma yet
Well, they Kept runnia' an Jim an
me stayed at that terrible place. A lit;
tie smoke would come out of the cave
every now an then, an we come to the
conclusion that Uncle Lem got drunk.
an as it was pretty cold he <nade a fire
an the snakes was under the rocks. 1t
was IN November, an the snakes was
fixed for winter. The fire made em
mad an drove EN- out. / reckon I'm
Gle Lem was asleep or too drunk to
move. Mr.. Hill an Jake Anders soon
got back with the boys, an we set to
work to get that body. 1t took a good
while, for we had to drive hooks ir
long poles an try to pull him out. Then
snakes chung to him; they coiled around
him; they Kissed an they bit. Seems tc
me there was thousands: but I'll be
Wlliin' to say there was only hundreds
We soon found we could do nothin' with
the poles, an Mr.. Hill he says we yaust
burn EN- out.
Burned Man and Snakes.
But pa-what about pa, says Hi
ram, his mouth, all trenholm
. m sorry boys. I'm sorry says Mr.
Hill. but there amt no other way
We talked awhile an then we come
o the conclusion that he was right
every last one of us gathered a pile
II dry. brush an, punched it down the
slant. Then we got some leaves an fat
pine an put match TO is. In less thar
| minute such blaze, such smell. an
'ueh noise. 1t was the awfulest
hing. | hope'I may die before | see
he like again. Well we kent fhrnuin