Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1905-06-03
A SNAKE STORY.

Speaking Of escapes. said the cir
Gus man, pouring four fingers of 4pri-
yate stock" and downing it with one
| swallow, Il can tell pretty fair yarn
on that subject. 1t happened when a
guy named Merritt and | were running
snake show next to a camp meeting
down on the Jersey coast. We had
bought lot of wigglers on the Bow
| cry and Merritt made himself up for a
Hindoo fakir He would get into the
cage with 'em and play on a tin whis-
tie and those snakes would wrap
around him from his head to his toes,
and IL was an awe-inspiring sight. But
! the great stunt was what he called the
! interminable snake when one would
| grab the biggest ones tail in his mouth,
another would fasten onto him, and so
on, until the whole blame lot looked
like one serpent Say. those snakes
got 50 stuck on that game that they
would do it for sport Whenever one
started to move around the cage an
other would grab his tail, and the first
thing you knew the whole bunch was
going around in string, and the sight
of it was enough to make man swear
off for year.
1--WE were doing fine business until
a temperance lecturer set up show a
little way off, and that cut into us SO
that there was nothing much doing.
The crowd would walk right past the
entrance to our highly moral and in-
structiye exhibition and go on to lis
ten 10 the temperance guy tell EN-
about the evils of drink, as illustrated
by the horrible living examples which
he had upon the platform. YOU see,
that was a free show, and ours cost a
quarter-and cheap at the price.
well, Merritt comes to me after |
had cracked my voice trying to draw
the crowd without landing anyone and
we locked at each other and shook our
heads in sorrow.
Jim" says he, that guy down
there's got you skinned to death on the
ballyhoo, and it's up to you to go over
and get next to the attraction and see
If wa can't cop it out for our show
hate to ask it of YOU says he, know
liz yOuI flGWo I'll IAC SCLhPNA ahSS
question, but business is business, and
this amt no time for sentiment
80 | went down to the lecture, and
not being wise to the game, but anx-
ious not to miss trick, l went right
up in front, and the first thing | knew
| was on the mourners bench, just in
front of the platform. | piped the lee
- fnT a
guy that used to pull teeth to brass
band accompaniment down on the
Bowery, and say, he could punish more
booze than any man | ever saw. But
he had the gift of CAB, all right, and
he had picked up couple OF panhand-
lers for horrible examples, and they
made good in the part. They looked
as If they had been towed behind a
trolley car from the Battery to Har-
lem, and if either one of 'em had
drawn a sober breath in 20 years he
ought to have sued his face for libel
well, the ex-jawcarpenter cut
loose in good form, and he soon had
everybody worked up, telling about
| what alcohol did to your interior lin
| ing, and giving a description OF the
menagerie which a man sees in the
jim-jams which would have done cred
it to the boss lecturer in the circus.
"He sort of had me going, too con-
tinued the circus man, after sampling
the freshly served drink, land l was
trying to decide whether | should
swear off or increase my dose of bro
mide when | saw one of the panhand-
| lers nudge the other one. He was
staring down the aisle and his eyes
were sticking out so far that you could
have hung your hat on EN-.
"'Bnl, says he, tell the old man to
put on full steam, for I'm backsliding
an I've spot 'em again. Look there!
| Bill looks down the aisle and he gets
uneasy, too.
Hank says he, I've got 'em like
wise, only that amt my usual snake,
coz he amt got no plug hat with red
| flannel band aroun it on his head; but
me for the bromide.
"'It's this blame Jersey whisky
that's changed en- answers Bill, FER
mine always has gorillas ridin' en-
well, | looked around and | would
have been scared myself, only recog-
nized our bunch, each one of 'em with
the tail of the snake in front OF him In
his mouth. Old Timber Larry'-we
called him that because he always used
to go to sleep tied up in true lovers
knot-was in the lead, and behind him
came about a half mile of snakes.
They were festooning themselves up
the aisle, coming slow, because there
was a couple of 'em that couldn't move
very fast, and when the gait got too
lively they used to bit their leaders
tails. Old Larry was raising his head
and looking around every few feet, and
just when the lecturer had reached the
most thrilling part of his Ten Nights
in Barroom spiel he caught Larry's
eye, and the meeting adjourned sine
die, right there. You couldn't see him
for dust, as he broke for the nearest
scpaaly aacv ond tho two nanhandlprS