The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-12
some CURIOUS
SNAKE STORIES
Variety Of Anecdotes Comes From In
dia, Where the Reptiles Are
Found in Profusion.
EASY WAY TO KILL ENEMIES
WOMAN BADLY SCARED BY A
STOCKING.
pan Mall Gazette.1

Despite the fact that snakes are so
common IA IndIa.1 Europeans do not see
much OF them unless their duties call
them out into. the wilder districts. Like
most wild things, they are desperately
anxious to avoid human beings ana
with good reason, since a white man
always kiHs-a snake at sight. And so,
after twenty years passed in India, an
Englishman may recall the discovery
on two or three occasions, of q snake
within his house. into which 1t has
Crept for shelter from the rain; he has
perhaps a dozen times come across one
Coiled up beside a pathway, and there
his experience of them ends. Yet he
must constantly have been close TO
them; family of cobras, perhaps, has
inhabited his compound, unknown TO
him; and there may have been snakes
In the very thatch Of his bungalow.
The official reports for recent year
gave the number OF deaths from snake
bite throughout India as $4,000. No
doubt in the remoter districts natives
often report the deaths of their rela-
tives as having been due TO snake bite
I'm order to avoid the troublesome in
quiries which they detest, and, all evil
denee having been carefully destroyed,
IL is impossible to arrive at the truth.
Occasionally, too, reported death from
this cause is I'm reality a case of muir
the number of persons killed every year
by snakes is enormous, This is caused
partly by the fanattcal dislike which
the ordinary native has far killing, or
even interfering with. any wild crea-
ture. and partly by the common habit
of going about with feet and legs bare.
I have myself seen a native soldier
walk boldly into a patch of grass in
my compound 10 drive out a cobra
which had been seen to glide into it,
The fact that his legs were bare to the
knee did not cause him the slightest
hesitation. Fortunately, he did not
meet the snake
Assassination.
1t is commonly reported, though with
what truth do not know, that natives
sometimes adopt d particularly diabol-
ical and ingenious method of getting
rid of an enemy, in such wise that the
death shall be correctly attributed to
snake bite. A small cobra, OF a kaiait
"a snake quite as venOmOus-is caught
uninjured, and piece of string is fas-
tened TO its tail. The string is then
run through the hollow stem Of a bam-
boo just large enough to contain the
body of the snake, and by it the Crea-
ture is dragged, tail first, inside the
cane, Great care is taken not to injure
the reptile in any way.
Armed with this formidable weapon,
the murderer waits for a suitable op-
pOrtunity for using ii. Nothing is
easier than to approach the hut Of his
intended victim when he is asleep, and,
creeping through the open doorway, to
bring the end Of the bamboo into con-
tact with some part of his body. The
snake, enraged and terrified by the
treatment which it has received, bites
as soon as its head touches the man.
II the victim is sleeping sOundly, he is
probably not even awakened by the
slight puncture of the cobra's needle
like fangS. He passes iSsansibly into
death. The next day his body IS dis
covered, with all the unmistakable
symptoms OF snake poisoning; and save
through an accident it is not even sus-
pected that a crime has been commit
ted, The murderer, having liberated
the snake and destroyed the bamboo,
is perfectly safe. Even if suspicion
falls upon him it is impossible to prove
his guilt.
A Cobra Story.
Snake stories, more or less incredible,
abound The following, which was
told to me on such authority that 7 am
forced to believe it, is a fair specimen:
A cobra was discovered in the COM
pound or garden surrounding an Of
ffcer's bungalow, and the entire male
portion OF the household turned out to
destroy it. The snake was driven from
one hiding place to another, and at last
it took refuge in a narrow culvert. All
sorts Of expedients were tried to drive
il out Shots were fired through the
pipe and bundles of burning grass were
thrust into IL, without effect. Finally
the culvert was dug up and the snake
was found and killed.
II was a large and handsome one,