The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-05-12
THE lNTERMINABLESN SNAKE.
A Story Done Into Conversation by a
Circus Man.

Circus Man.
Kansas City Star: Speaking OF
escapes, said the icrcus man. pour
ing four fingers of private stock
and downing it with one swallow.
Il can tell a pretty fair yarn
on that subject. 1t happened when a
guy named Merritt and l were running
Il snake show next to a camp meeting
down on the Jersey coast. We had
bought a lot of wigglers on the Bowery
and Merritt made himself up for a
Hindoo fakir. He would get into the
cage With EN- and play on a tin whistle
and those snakes would wrap around
him from his head to his toes, and it
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 on to him, and SO
on, until the whole blame lot looked
like one serpent. Say, those snakes got
so stuck on that game that they would
do it for sport. Whenever one started
to move around the cage another would
grab his tail and the first thing you
knew the whole bunch was going
around in a string, and the sight of it
was enough to make a man swear off
for a year
We were doing fine business until
a temperance lecturer set up a show
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
structive exhibition and go on to listen
to 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
q free show. and ours cost a quarter
and cheap at that price.
We'll, Merritt came to me after I
,y,ly. 4
the crowd without landing anyone, and
we looked 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 attrac-
ton and see if we can't cop it out
for our show. l hate TO ask it of you
says he, knowing your views on the
temperance question, but business is
business, and this amt no time for
sentiment.
80 l went down to the lecture, and
not being wise to the game but aslX
ious not to miss trick, ! went right
up in front, and the first thing l knew
I was on the mourners bench just in
front of the platform. l piped the lee
turer as soon as he came ON, for
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 a couple of panhandlers
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 Harlem, 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 every
body worked up, telling about what al
cohol did to your interior lining, and
giving a description of the menagerie
which a man sees in the jim-jams which
would have done credit 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, and / was
| trying to decide whether l should swear
off or increase my dose of bromide
| when l saw. one of the panhandlers
down the aisle and his eyes We're stick
| ing out so far that you could have
hung your hat on EN-.
"'Rill,' says he, tell the old man to
put on full steam, for I'm backsliding
an I've spotted 'em again. Look there
| Bill looks down the aisle and gets UNI
easy. too.
Hank says he, I've got 'em like
wise, only that amt my usual snake,
COZ he amt got no plug hat with a
red flannel band around it on his head /;
but me for the bromide
Its this damn 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 l recog-
niZed our bunch, each one of EN- with
the tail of the snake in front of him in
his mouth. Old Timber Lary-we
called him that because he always
used to go to sleep tied in a knot-was
in the lead, and behind him came about
half a mile of snakes. They We're fes-
| looming themselves up the aisle, COM
ing slow, because there was a couple
OF 'em that couldn't move very fast,
and when the gait got too lively they
used to bite their leaders, tails Old
Larry was raising his head and looking
around every few feet and just when
the lecturer had reached the most thil-
ling part Of his Ten Nights in a Bar
room spiel he caught Larrys eye, and
the meeting adjourned sine die. right
there. You couldn't see him for dust
as he broke for the nearest speak
easy and the two panhandlers were
hanging onto his coattals.
Just then Merritt comes in, looking
worried, for he had gone to sleep and
let 'em get away from him, but wher
he sees EN- he takes out his whistle
and goes back to the show. footing il
like a blasted pied piper, the snakes
following along as meek as Mary's
lamb and most of the audience goes
after en-
did business improve?" asked the
stranger.
Improve? Why, my boy, after we
put that temperance show out of bust
ness we just turned EN- away fol-
three months. And the hotel people
put us on the free list at the bar, be
cause Merritt used to take EN- down II
Inter1ninable Snake formation for {
dip in the ocean every morning anC
the hotel press agent wrote it up as
the daily appearance Of the gigantic sea
serpent"