The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-11-06
LAND OF BLACKsNAKEs.
A Sunday Stroll In . Wood on the
Border Of Maryland.

'You may not know" said Col. F.
B. Schoch, formerly Of York County,
Pennsylvania. that the border line of
Pennsylvania and Maryland, or, rather,
the country along it seemed to be
peculiarly adapted to the propagation
of big snakes. There is in particular,
a family of blacksnakes in that region
so given to growth that only small ones
of the race excite any comment. I
will say that 1 myself have never seen
one Of these snakes that was not more
than ten feet long, but have the word
of neighbor of mine, James Zepp by
name-and he is corroborated by a
friend of his, J. C. Meyers-that one
Sunday afternoon not long ago he and
his friend Meyers were walking along
the Melrose road onatheir way to the
woods when they came upon what
they supposed to be a bicycle track in
the road, which is very little used.
who do you suppose can be going
through this country on a bicycle?"
said Zepp to Meyers.
Somebody that must have muscle
and nerve replied Meyers, and he
must have a tire on his wheel like a
lumber wagon. from the width Of the
track 1t makes.
They measured the track. It was
four inches wide 1t Followed the road
two miles and ended. Then for the
first time it struck the two men that
the track had begun In the road as
suddenly as 1t had come to an end
They thought over the puzzle for some
time, and could come to but one con-
clusion and that was that the track
had been made by spook bicycle.
"Zepp and Meyers went on with hur-
ried steps, and had gone but a short
distance, when suddenly an enormous
blacksnake glided out of the woods into
the road. It had a cock pheasant in
its moth. The snake kept the road, and
travelled SO fast that it was out Of
sight before the two men had recov-
cred from their establishment. Then
satisfied that it was not a spook BIZ
cycle that had made the track in the
old road, they went on with their minds
at ease.
1.-THE great trail followed the road
for nearly a mile, when it turned to-
ward the woods again and disappeared.
Half mile further on the big snake
came into the road again like a flash.
This time it had a rabbit in its mouth.
"FLord!' exclaimed Zepp. He has
gulped that big pheasant, and now he's
going to swallow a rabbit
This time the snake did not follow
the road, but crossed it, and it really
made Yep and Meyers a little squirmy
when they saw the head Of the snake
disappear in the woods on one side
road some time before its tail came out
of tho woods IN the other
Half a mile further on they came to
Andy Elites Andy is a coon, fox and
'possum hunter and when Yep and
Meyers told him about the big snake
he called his dog, got his gun, and
started out to see If he couldn't do
something in the line Of snake hunt
ing. Zepp and Meyers went along to
see the fun, or I wouldn't have known
about it.
THAT must be the uncommonest
snake that was ever freed around here,
or you wouldn't find old Dan cuttin'
up like that! He has holed a dozen
rattlers to wunst fore now, and never
made no such fuss
1.-THE hunters soon got to the dog,
and at once saw that he had good
cause to make fuss. Two snakes
lay stretched on the rocks. They were
as black as coal, or they could easily
have been mistaken for chestnut SAP
lings Each snake seemed swollen 10
great size just below the neck. Andy
Elite shot both of them through the
head, and they thrashed around so in
the bushes that the dog and Zepp and
Meyers ran away. 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 rab-
bit. The snake that had swallowed
the rabbit had mules shoe in It's
stomach This led to the report, when
the news Of the killing Of the two
snakes was carried to Melrose, that
one OF the snakes had swallowed q
mule. This was found out later to be
untrue, as the mules shoe was identi-
fed by George Sampson as one that
he had tied aroupd the neck Of q kit
ten he had thrown in the mill pond a
week before. The cat it. was thought,
had escaped from the pond. and run
up against the snake, somewhere, and
] the snake at once took her in. shoe