The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-12

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ed. There was a knothole in the side of
The house and the sun comm through
this cast a round white reflection bout
the size Of a dollar on the ace, just in
front of me. The ace won and the sleepy
dealer paid IL with one white chip. l let
1t lie and it won straight through the
deal. / got up from chat table three hours
afterward with S2.S35. I s'pose I'm the
only man in the world that ever won
rtlore'n two thousand on a piece Of sun
shine"
"Taikin' bout rattlesnakes. they're not
half as mean as they are painted. They
not only feel love, but they are capable
of deep and pure affection and they have
a keen sense of gratitude. This is why;
1 left camp one day in Virginia and was
strolling around when I heard a tremen-
dOus racket in a thiuket. ! went in and
found a RATHER in che grasp Of a king
snake. The king snake held him by the
back Of the neck and was wrapped around
him twenty times, slowly crushing he lie
out of him. The rattler was "A big, hand
some fellow, but poWerless and ! never
shall forget the frenzy of despair in his
eye. hated to see him murdered In that
manner, so l killed the king snake and
went on, thinkn' no more about IL. Sit
tin down to resi- after awhile, | was
startled by a rustlin' near me and lookin'
around l saw the rattler. | knew il was
the same one by the marks on his neck.
He was not kwield, but came to me in
fawnin' manner and, layin' his head up
on my knee wiggled his tail if he were
q pleased dog. l stroked him and his neck
swelled up with gladness. Climbing up my
arm, he kissed me delicatey on the cheek,
them kwilin' himself in the sun, went 10
sleep. He followed me back TO camp and
l could do or say nothin' 10 discourage
him. When we arrived / showed him to
the boys and said that l did not believe
he would hurt them. They agreed to let
him stay on that condition that l would
consent to be led out and shot If any of
them were bitten. | agreed, though | did
not see how this would help the dead man
any and BILL called him Bill-became
my terminate 1 cannot express 10 you
the amount of comfort and company he
was 90 me more faithful. courageous,
kind-hearted thing never brea thed. l got
SO that l could not sleep unless he was
in the blanket with me. He was soon 10
prove his worth in a strange manner.
AT THAI time my business was KILN
Yankee pickets. During three years in
Virginia | was credited with the death of
$780, though many of these did not die by
hand. one night l stole out toward the
federal line intent upon my task, and did
not notice until l had accomplished my
purpose that Bill was behind me. To-
gether We looked at the PROSTATE soldier
and then returned to camp. Next night
l was surprised when flfiy yards from the
federal outpost by seem Bill dart sudden
ly in front of me- Before l had crept
forward ten PAGES l heard an unearthly
yell, and goin' more rapidly, met Bill half
way, comm back with every mark of
satisfaction upon his expressive features.
There was a dead Yankee ahead of me
The fellow had been siltiu' down half
asleep, instead of patrolin' his beat, and
was bitten in che neck. The poisons of
rattlesnakes differ greatly in rapidly Of
effect, Some of them require half day
in which to kill a human being, but the
virus which came from Bits jaws was like
the stroke of lightnin'. He was with me
for a year and in that time slew more
than 200 of our foeman. In
fact, while he was in good
health and willin' I did NOT do any
KILN at all. l simply left camp with him
in the dark, sat down and smoked, half
mile from the federals, and waited for
him to come back and report If | ever
cared 10 investigate | always found a
corpse at the other end of ne route
THE death of Bill was peculiarly sad
and | shall never, think, cease bein re-
morseful about it. l got the idea that if
one RATHER could train himself to kill
Yankee pickets, other ra ftlcrs could be
trained to do the same thing. l figured
that, with a hundred Of them at work
every night. we would soon have dead
Yanks piled up like cordwood so l sent
to the Yazoo and had a big box of them
forwarded. They We're hungry and as
lively as crickets when they got to camp
1 fed them and went to bed. Next
mornin they were all stiff in death. Graz
ed by jealousy, Bin had crawled into
the box and quietly murdered them one
by one, 1t was his only fault, and even
that fault was rooted in his overmaster-
in love for me. | spoke TO him harshIy
He fixed me with one fleetin reproachful
glance, turned and buried his fangs in
his own body. He was dead before
could get to him and he never Witnessed
n moment of my anguished self -reproach
| ought to have had a major generalship
for BilPs work, but when [ mentioned
the matter to Old Stonewau he simply
took another suck at his eternal lemon
and told me to report TO the staff sur
geon. That donkey said I was suffern'
from 'megalOmania' and too little to do.
IT is true that loafed a good deal while
Bill was workin' and l was guilty on
that charge, but as for megalomania. I
didn't know what It was, and didn't care,
didn't have II, sure"
81 see that the papers are castin' as
PERSONS on my discovery Of a prehis-
torc city in the Mississippi woods. a city
forty miles across which must have con-
tanned fifteen millions of human beings.
Well let 'em asperse The city is there
and / am ready to show II to any one
who will take the ride. I have twenty
pieces of pottery in my house pottery I
dug from the ruins with my own hands.
and the most curious fact about 1t is
that n is exactly like the Chinese pot
terry of the present. This is nearly con-
elusive proof that The prehistoric inhabl-