The times., 1899-10-01

tor in fight with a rattIesnake or a cop
perhead the mountains of Southern Penn
/ sylvania would be so infested with these
deadly reptiles that it would not be safe
! for anyone to go there during the sum
mer- Il have met many a one he says
of his fayorite blacAsnake. in my tramps
through the mountains. and / am sorry TO
say l have killed a great many. and some
I monsters, too. Sometimes they woald
show fight, but oftener pull out at a rate
of speed that was marvellous I have not
killed one for many year. and will never
kill another one for I have learned their
good qualities and now hold them in high
esteem"
That the blacksnake can be very vicious
in spite of his many good qualities is
shown by the experience OF the little two
year-old daughter of Richard Branning. OF
Deep Hilover. Columbia county. Mr..
BTanning had a pet rattlesnake. This
pet" has history Early in the spring.
while Mr.. Branning was blasting away
cliff with dynamite. he uncovered a nest
of rattlers. All of the snakes except three
or four were killed. and all that saved
their lives escaped except one. This one
was so badly wounded that it could not
get away. Ii was big fellow, OF d re-
markably amiabie disposition. and with
keen sense of gratitude While recover
ing from its wounds the snake coiled it
self into Mr.. Branning's good graees. and
constituted itself the special guardian of
his little daughter. The latter frequently
| fondied it, and it always manifested
marked fondness for the child. One day
last week a large blacksnake attacked the
little girl enfolding her in its deadly EN-
brace AS ii was drawing its coils more
and more tightly about the child the pet
rattler put in an appearance Seeing the
situation, the rattlesRake dashed at its
natural enemy the blacksnake, and fore
cd it to relinquish It's hold upon the in
| fant and defend itself. The rattier was
victorious. the blacksnake beiHg killed in
/ the encounter. 1t is only natural. in view
of this important service in saving the life
of his child that Mr.. Richard Brannning,
of Deep Hiloyer. Columbia county, should
be as much of champion OF rattlesuakes
as Mr. Joseph o. Boggs, OF Fayetteville,
Franklin county, who wrote 20 TIE Re
pository,'' is of blaeksnakes.
Most parts of the State have only stories
of rattlers. eopperheads, and b!aeksnakes,
bat Bucks county has a tale of an ana
eonda This anaconda Is rot a native of
Bucks county. but was nrOGgnt TO this
country from South America by Mrs
George Kelly. who was on a visit to her
brother-in-law. Edward Smith. Mrs. Kei-
ly is a snake charmer. and the anaconda
was one of her exhibits. IL was kept in
Il cage Ds lNSE4k, nut UAc IlSuNs " Gtct-i4S
of its wonderful constructing power, it was
able to make its escape. The anaconda is
now il captivity again. but while it was
at large it had a great deal of fun with the
people around Sunnyside schoOlhouse, near
Doylestown.
One morning soon after Mrs. Kelly's an
aconda escaped a party OF boys went into
the ice pond on the FordhoOk seed farm
for an early swim One OF tho lads step
ped on what he thought wds a twisted
root under the water near the bank Sud
denly the root moved from under him
and, losing his balance he fell on top Of
the anaconda The reptile half wound
itself round his naked body but the young
ster's shrieks frightened the serpent and
the monster glided away.
After that nothing was seen OF the huge
reptile for more than Il month hut depre-
dationS on poultry yards aud milk cans
for many miles around became Of everyday
occurrence y little girl going TO the
springhouse On her fathers farm in Castle
Valley was the next 10 see the anaconda
II was reposing In the clear water of the
spring. and had helped itself to the con-
tents OF three milk cans and manifested a
remarkable fondness for butter The
frightened child. rushing back to her
mother reported snake IN the SPRING
house as big as telegraph pole This time
the anaconda escaped. but when il returned
last Saturday for another feast il was pin
ioned by Mr. Smith. who was on the look
out for IL, and il is now on it's way to
travelling show out in Ohio.