Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-20
HUNDRED FEET
OF SNAKE LOOSE
MATE THINKS A SEA SERPENT
HAS COME ABOARD
Crew Has It's Hands Full, at Two Feet
Of Reptile Each, When They
Capture the Captains
Pets
Special to The Herald.

NEW YORK, Sept. 1S.-The British
steamship Indrashima brought in yes-s
terday morning from Singapore Java
and the Far East, as a side line to her
cargo of sugar and spices, five large
pythons, healthy tiger named Nero
and a cage of monkeys. The cargo
proper came in the ships hold. The
extras had deck quarters.
The motony of the voyage from SIN
gapore, which began on July 5, was
broken by the steamer running into q
cyclone and fight between one of the
pythons and the tiger, which resulted
in the defeat and death of the snake
Capt. w. II. Wilkes said that the mix
up of the snake and Nero was realistic
in the extreme.
Last Saturday night the Indrashlina
ian into the tail end of a cyclone which
lasted practically until Monday morn
ing. At o'clock Sunday morning a
tremendous sea came over the STAR
board side of the quarter deck and
swept with great violence to the aft cr
end of the alleyway where the tiger
and the snakes had been confined for
security in the bad weather. The sea
stove in the temporary bulkhead and
washed away the support to the tiger 8
cage. The boxes in which the pythons
were kept were smashed and the great
snakes floated about in the starboard
alleyway, while the tiger was swim
ming in his cage to keep himself above
water. His roars frightened BILL"
the ships cat, so badly that he left the
cooks galley and hid himself in the
bo'sn's locker.
Thinks It Sea Serpent
|. When Chief officer Evans, bronzed,
bearded and salty looking man, went
aft he thought for a moment that the
Indrashima had shipped some cables
| L., l. e. Tl.o IN..e
undulating coils of the snakes seemed |
to reach from the after hatch to the |
stern of the ship. The officer then
realized that the captains pets were
adrift
The four largest pythons aggregated
100 feet; the longest measured q feet, |
the next 26, while the two others were
% and "a feet long respectively. And
their girths? Well, they averaged up
to nearly two feet and a half feet each.
According to the Malay bo'sun, the
pythons were so frightened when they |
found themselves sliding about in the
salt water that they linked themselves
up, end to end for mutual protection.
The bo'sun declares that snakes in
Lahore, where these reptiles came
from, always loop themselves together
when trouble breaks loose.
The fifth python, which measured
about % feet and came from Djogia-
jakarta, did not join his fellows, but
wriggled through the bars of Nero's
cage and interrupted the striped mon
arch of the jungle in his swimming
exercise. The tiger, seemingly annoyed
at the intrusion, did not waste any time
in tedious preliminaries, but went for
the python and ripped him with his
powerful claws. The snake tried vain
ly to twist his coils around the body
of his enemy, but he was handicapped
l. IL A.I-
down the alleyway and swampng the
cage.
Lasts Five Minutes
The encouter lasted about five min
uteS, when, with sound like the rip
ping of a big piece of calico, Nero tore
the serpent asunder. The water which
flowed back from the alleyway was
dyed crimson and at first the chief Of
ficer thought that a human being had
fallen a victim to the tiger With the
daring of an experienced snake charm
er Evans seized the twenty-seven-foot-
er by the neck and tucked two feet of
him under his arm. Then the ships
carpenter supported another two feet
of him, followed by the rest of the
crew. each wrestling with two-foot
section until they had the big snake
under control, when he was laid away
in the locker in assorted coils.
The chief officer called the captain
and then ordered the bo'sun to pipe all
hands aft to capture the snakes, and
Confine them in the potato locker until
the carpenter could rig up a new box
for them.
The crew and the midshipmen mus
tered fourteen, including the bo'sun, so
that If the python had been much
than enough of him to go around.
After the largest snake had been dis
posed of the othL4 three were caught
in the same manner and slowed away.
The skin of the dead python was dried
and stuffed under the directions of
Capt. Wilkes, who had it hung up in
the saloon as a memento of the voyage.
The Indrashima, it may be mentioned,
is very dry" ship and carries a pious
crew.
The saddest looking man on the vessel
is Midshipman Atchison who has had
charge of the tiger and the pythons
throughout the voyage. He was selected
by the captain for the job on account
of his great interest in zoology. Atchi-
son has slight kink in his neck
through trying to keep one eye on the
tiger and the other on the big python
at the same time.
He had nothing enthusiastic to say
about his charges yesterday, nor did he
express any desire to become a pro-
fessional snake charmer. Atchison said
that the big snake had shed his skin
twice during the voyage, and had been
fed twice with rabbits and beef. All
hands had to go aft to hold the reptile
while he rammed the food down it's
throat with pole.
The tiger which is beautifully
marked, is .-ears old, and came from
the state of Johore. He measures
feet from tip to tip. Nero will be sold
with the pythons, but the cage of Ave
small monkeys must remain on the
Indrashima until a permit has been
obtained to land them.