The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-08-26
"A SPLENDID 81 ! :! y j } CROP
OF SNAKE YARNS
They Come From All Owe
the World and Are
New Ones.

New Ones.
This is the season for the best snake
stories from the rural district and
Barnesvilfo. O.. comes forward with an
Interesting contribution to the snake lit
erature OF the liour, says the New York
Commercial-Adve 4 correspondent
In that town writes that the territory
southwest OF gainesville, known as the
Leathcrwood Valley, Oppenshaw Ridge.
Z Ciobblers' Knob Dog Hollow, Harmony
and other wcl known settlements,is the
veritable homo and propagating grounds
OF the venomous copperhead. 1t has been
their homo for years, and. notwithstand-
Ing they are destroyed BY thousands every
season. the tribe continues to flourish
This season the snakes are vastly moro
numerous than ever.
Much Of the country where the snakes
abound consists OF stony hlllsdes, which
have been denuded OF their virgin growth
OF tim cr and either have been allowed to
h grow up in brers and bushes or, now and
then yield q crop Of tobacco to the patient
and toiling hrsbnndman. a tobacco plant
OF suf Client growth Is Il favoritc plac sor
copperhead to coll and strike the hand
OF the farmer who Is culttvhtlng his crop.
pulling the worms from the plant or strip
ping the leaves. Instances are numerous
every season Of farmers being bitten
while taking their tobacco but In most
Instances they have antidotes and no
deaths are recorded. Copious draughts OF
whiskey generally bring the victim out all
right, and not few pin their faith to a
prompt application OF turpentlne to the
wound.
SCOTCH EELs.
And to top 1t all off we will give mn
eel story, all the way from Scotland. Tho
Glasgow Herald Is responsible if.r It,
Here It Is: Eel stories seem 10 be nu-
merous Just now A Glenquot n (Perth-
shlre) man. when fishing recently, noticed
a dead eel lying at the bottom Of the
loch few PAGES from the bank Bo'ng
struck with It's appearance, he hauled IT
ashore and found that instead Of ono he
had two. The head OF the ons wa, hbont
four inches down the throat of the other.
The larger, which was a bout two feet In
length, had tried to sws How Tho smaller
one. which measured eighteen inches. The
result was that It could neitnoT .@all ow
nor dsgorge its Intended TIcfim. and
that both succumbed. And here is a still
more remarkable tale. A Caldwell angler
had remarkable Clutch tho Gtfor DAY,
catching an eel three feet IN length.
which was swallowed by one six feet
long, tho two being gobblcd shortly after
by monster twelve feet long. surely
this Is a record In eel catching.
8CATBIRDS BLIND BLACK SNAKE. 4
A special from PottsWille, Pa, to tho
Philadelphia Record says: .
While on a fishing trip to-day Samuel
Quinn and Edward Gilger, OF this place,
witnessed an exciting battle for an hour
Finally the birds, getting the better OF
the reptile. pecked out one OF. its eyes.
Then the men finished the snake.
THE GOPHER SNAKE.
1t has long been question In our minds
aE to how the gopher snake caught the
gophers on which he lives. but H. c..
15eitzer tells how 1t was done. having
witnessed catch. Mr.. Snake eoled his
tall over the gopher hole, setting a snare
for him. When the gopher had jcrawled
out OF the hole sufficiently to permit the
snakes tail to be drawn about the body
of the gopher the coll was fastened about
Mr.. Gopher as quick a s a sh "
1t was gradually drawn tighter'Eand
tighter until the gopher fell over dead
tho life having been completely sQueezed
out OF him. After the gopher Is dead the
snake swallows him whole, and 1t Is not
an unusual thing to find ono of these
snakes with a number Of gophers In him.
The gopher. Is great fighter, and II he
was not caught ina Hsrare as the one
mentioned he would doubtless make n
hard fight for life. even with O snake
! Tulare Advance. ft% sg y
! "A PERFECTLEsS HARMLESS SNAKE.
The poor. harmless grass snake IS the
subject of stories almost as wonderful as
those related OF the adder. The supersti-
ton that. however much you may han1-
mer It. 1t will not die till the setting Of
the sun Is widely held. A fable not so
generally held to is that even at sun
down 1t will not die lfiyou should neglect
to tell some one Of what you have done.
The rule on seeing one of these terrible
| L. trt o'v,Is all. - to-
! give 1t good drubbing and run quickly.
and tell some one. The best snake story
| Is from Leigh Sinton, near Malvern, ac-
cording to London correspondent. A
| iahorer states that he had killed grass
snake and hung 1t on a tree. The blood
| dripped down and a toad came and swal-
lowed some, dying Instantly!
| The fancy that makes this species pois-
onous or even harmful Isl a wild one, but
how much more wild Is that which attrb-
utes violent toxic properties to any chance
drop OF blood from its body! 1t might
! have been thought that the other popular.
belief that poisonous things cannot be
| poor toad.
Mr.. TeGetmeior, who safely offered last
year a reward OF a5 for proof that
viper had swallowed her young, returned
| to the charge In last weeks Field with
an exultant article on the subject. This
produced the following account from II.
| F, Walker, Md, OF New York4a
"Once In my boyhood saw the ordi-
nary garter snake swallow her young
| Tho mother snake was not more than
three feet from me. and the young
snakes, warned by her or alarmed BY my
presence. came from different, directions,
ran into her mouth and disappeared one
after another, There were four OF them.
After swallowing her young tho old snake
glided away without apparent fear, The