The Washington times., 1906-12-02
His Exnerience in a Mine of Big ''Rattlers.

indeed that my duck coat was wet iE
many places with the poison OF mo
1tsre monster about four feeJ long
finally got into tire bucket with me lie
must have reached out 10" Tar Niiet
striking and IHIien In- J. Stamped ny
foot upou him and ground II down and
held IL there. Z FuT ulE WleLr weight
upon IT, and got him just behind Lhe
head. where hc could not move 70 strlhe-
Ills body NTltHeu about my ankles ms
SKIN Slipped UH his body beneath my
weight II WAS a sIrEenIDE sensation
10 feel that awful. slippery Thing under
III II arrived I'm the belt Of The bats
again. aud such "A mess don think
amy man ever got into before me
trrat e. hinged creatures beat about me
il ~cerIri with great fury. They struck
me repeatedly 1u the FAC" and once
more put oul the candle. Their mouse
te SVu-aES and Tie rattle of the snake
beneath INV .eet nearly scared ME 10
of foes g. was all / could do pro-
tecE MYSELF from their Tapping wings
and blind huTJliug against my iace-
--Nr last 1 could see . daylight Id
could make myself heard / ~h, ufed t.
the meI 10 hoist quickly. The ~
miners Gl3 their best and soon -ad --lS
up at the top. or within q few feet Of a.
They now discovered and / also
four large rattle slakeS hanging 10 JfIo
edge of the leather tub They ha4
struck at me and had got their fanH~
a
ner that they could not get away
with The butt end at nv pick ]
smashed tie head Of the fellow / GasA
under my foot, and then was hoisteJ
10 the level of the top where ] oraWied
out of the CowhiGe bucket and fen eN-
hausted on the ground. The sun vas
bHsterins hot but ] shiyartd from hea~
to foot and was SD uduseated that 4
Nomited Tor an hour.
''ihe men killed three OF the TattlCTg
which were hanging to the bucket, ana
! guess the other fellow killed himself,
for hs broke loose ana lell down me
shaft a.aiu. al distance Gf more than 304
feet deep. which We had calculated !
now learned that the only reason why
/ had not been lJWared entirely dow
To the bottom 4azaE2g tH= deadly sn24- !.
was tuat the rope had all been paid -
II had held pa" suspended noi more iattn
ten or ntttsG feet from the floor II the
place Had the rope beer tweI-H feet
longer what lgCEId have uJ come Jf me
/ do not know. FOR the two msu ON top
would have continued To let m- down
az / should have been Ian e1 I'm he
thick of "a mass Of VenamS - and en-
ragged serue0tS- tIe number ot which 1
can only guess.
After ! hal got over my fright
ASKED thu men WHY they did uoy H'7f@'
me when j shouted They ausW>--a nat
thaE had rot heard a sound and that
turthrrmcre- it was All they had been
a aBle to do to stand al the ends ol tfe
Shaft when tie bLts came out Ih6
cloud nf t1, 1f-ltftres. they told me.
was 50 thick that ID Waz like SD much
sElO6e. Then tHe sun bad made the
bats blind. 50 thlt flew against The
men and battered them as they had done
ne. and all but made them blind them
selves for time. My assistants, indeed.
had been unable tn sec anything hGt
bats. and could hardly control tie wind
lass.
NV adventure put an emo u al ex-
pIoration of that Dartlcular mine-by
me. at anv rate. We TeCked UP and
started back ] reported &c nay English
friends that I had made the "trip and
found the biggest rattlesnake mine r.
the country