The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-06-10
RATTLESNAKE CLUB.
Holds Third Annual Hunt and Makes
Good Haul.

South Kent Comm Cor. New York Times.
When the 4:So train of the New York.
New Haven and Hartford railroad drew
into this town this afternoon, about thir-
~ men. all sunbnrned. booted, belted and
talking loudly of trails and camps, got
aboard. One of them carried a burlap bag
which he threw on the floor of the car.
Immediately there arose a chorus of
Kisses and strange ratings
ut seems to me-" remarked an elderly
man nervously, that rattlesnakes are in
this car"
There are" said Shang Wheeler, of
Stratford. Conn Five of EN-. to be ex-
act. And black snake. 1t makes no
noise however, being dead"
Then silence fell upon the car. As far
as Bridgeport, where the fenee-loolSing
man got off, the only sounds were the
chorusng of the rattlesnakes in the bur-
lap bag and the remarks of the Schagh-
ticope Rattlesnake club as its members
passed around the Sagwa cure for bites.
Today was held the third annual hunt
of the Rattlesnake club. 1t was a great
success in many ways There were rattle-
snakes enough to satisfy every one,
weather beautiful enough to please the
most fastidous, Indian scouts and thrill
ing moments, and, for those who liked
a touch of romance. there was a beau
tiful Indian maiden.
The Schaghticoke Rattlesnake club is
made up mostly of young men from
Bridgeport who love the open air and
feel the joy of living. George Cogswell,
who is a chief in the Schaghticoke indian
Reservation, a few miles south of this
town, is president. 1t is in the reservation
that the snake hunt is held every year
The Schaghticol<e hunters arrived here
soon abter 10 o'clock. They Immediately
attracted attention by their dress and the
fact that they all carried long sticks,
for5ed at the ends They got into buggies
and drove to the reservation, where they
were met by Chief Coggswell and Jim
Pan, an Indian scout, who fought in the
civil war
Scout Jim Pan and Chief Coggswell ex-
planned the call to hunt in this verse:
There is a place on the Housatonic
Mountain where every year the rattle
snakes go to sleep. As the day grows
warm they come out. They are out. We
will hunt"
With their long sticks prepared for any
emergency and their legs shielded from
sralIe strikes. the members of SchaSht-
coke Rattlesnake club followed the chief
up a steep trail that led toward the peak
500 feet above. At intervals rests were
called but no talking was allowed. Chief
Coegswell warned all against unneces-
sary alarming the snakes. Jim Pan grunt-
ell approval
Jim Pan is a real Indian and Shaghti-
coke. Around South Kent the little colony
of aborignes Is called the "Artichokes.
Jim Pan does not like the name, THE
last of the ArticholSes."
The den of the rattlesnakes referred to
by Jim Pan and Chief Coggswell was
found to be an ugly looking place. 1t is
a hillside of tumbled powders, covered
with moss. Here and there a tree shoots
up and spreads enough greenery to keep
a dim and unrelgious light upon the
den. You don't see snakes at first glance,
but they are there, hundreds of them, UNI
der the powders, or with Just the tip
of their noses out in the sunshine.
BY the advice of the chief and the
scout the Rattlesnake club deployed and
advanced slowly upon the den. 1t was
not long before a tense cry came
Big fellow S-s-s-shI'
Then followed a slight rustic of leaves
and an expression of evaporation. in
fact. The hunters closed up around Doc"
Monroe of South Kent but the snake has
escaped the forked stick.
The first capture was made by Second
Vice President Bill futile of Stratford
Bill futile did not have to announce that
he had i'm" The rattler conveyed that
pleasing intelligence. The reptiles head
was pinned under the fork of the stick
but its tail was free. That loud member
whirled in rage. The curator of the club
Shang Wheeler, who Is hunter all the
year around came along to relieve Bill
futile and the snake from each other
He dexterously got his fingers around the
...tt ~. 41,l..
Next moment the tenderfeet in the crowd
were looking open-mouthed at the picture
of a man holding a squirmlng, whirring
rattlesnake between his circllng thumb
and first finger.
The first rattler was dropped into the
burlap bag, where 1t continued its song
of rage and jerl<ed out its own fangs by
biting the CLOTH Then the hunt proceed
ed with little apparent excitement, but
lot of 1t under the skin. In fifteen min
utes two rattlers, each three feet long,
had been outmaneuvered and bagged. This
number in that time left the novice with
the uncomfortable impression that he was
literally surrounded by rattlesnakes, un-
seen by him, but cycling him with sleep
less eyes from the crevces in the rocks.
At the end of the hunt. when five rat
tlesnakes were fighting each other in the
burlap bag and Shang Wheeler was being
around his neck, Chief Coggswell threw
open his wigwam by the shores of the
Housatonic river, and bites were attend
ed to.
1t was found that nobody had been bit
ten, but owing to the dangerous nature of
even possibilities. a dose of DR.. Dibneys
Number II was served all around. Num-
her Il is not a proprietary medicine, by
the way DR., Dibney Is an artist who
Weerl 81 white jacket His Number a.
made in Bridgeport. is said to be cure
0l, Dut is especially recommended for
such expeditions as rattlesnake hunting.
Here says Secretary Howell, a man may
fall and, scratching himself on a thorn,
believe he has been bitten by snake. The
use of Number II relieves the mind and
according to Scout Jim Pan:
Man take Number II anyway he sure
be not sorry. Him be happy"
1t was Jim Pans Indian daughter who
provided the touch of romance in the rat
tlesnake hunt. Strictly speaking. she is
1.-THE last Of the Artichokes." She sud-
denly appeared on the landscape when the
members of the Rattlesnake club were APP
plying remedies for their imaginary
wounds. The girl who said her name was
Alice Pan is a picture book Indian girl
in all things except that she is real.
Why the Turn In Broadway.
From the New York Globe
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