Tensas gazette., 1908-02-07
BOA STOPPED RAILROAD
SEIZED TWO LABORERS AND
THE OTHERS WENT ON
TRIkE.


Building of a Road Ceased Forever.
Railroad building in Brazil some
years ago was primarily a fight
against rank vegetation and labor
troubles" said Thomas E. Cassidy,
who was formerly an engineer there.
and he told strenuous story OF how
an anaconda killed two men and
frightened fifteen hundred others to
, such an extent that the building OF
the road ceased forever.
Il was born in England, and was
there educated as an engineer" he
said. WAY back in 81. nearly 20
years ago. l went to Argentina, and,
after remaining there a short time,
! went on to Brazil. where the incident
of which l have been reminiscing oc-
CURED. My memory Is fading now,
for none of us can remember very
distinctly the happening Of time so
long ago. but rs l look back across
the years l can still see the horrible
sight of those two men being ground
to jelly by the great anaconda OF the
forest. l can still see the rioting OF
fifteen hundred hungry men and the
burning of the Brazilian underground
as it made impossible the extension
of the railroad.
81 remember a funny experience
when landed at Buenos Ayres. From
the steamboat we were transferred,
with our baggage. to a tugboat in the
middle of the river. because of its
shallowness; from there to small
rowboats; from there to carts pulled
by horses in the water. and. for the
rest of the way. were compelled to
get wet feet by walking ashore. But
one gets used to that sort of thing
down there-or used to anyway.
II went to work at my profession as
civil engineer, not finding it very
difficult, for at that time men Of spe-
cial training were in great demand in
that country, and / was not long
waiting. I dickered around for high
er wages for a while. and then went
at it for the railroad contractors then
constructing the Bahia and Minas
railroad. The name was as far as 1t
ever got, as far as the completion of
1t was concerned, for its untimely end
was not long in coming.
''The road was being built directly
through a dense forest. such as is
common in the land of the equator.
Those who have seen the everglades
or the delta of the Mississippi, or the
great woods in parts of Canada, can.
never imagine the growth one wit
nesses there. Great, giant trees seem
to pierce the sky, so high do they go,
and spread over all branches and
leaves which make all dark and mys-
terious beneath. These rank. luxuri-
ant, grasses. bushes. ofiwers, water
growth and vegetation of every kind
make a mass almost impenetrable.
When the great rains of the tropics
swept over it one could almost see
the growth going on.
'Well. 1t was through this mass
that we were going to build our rail-
road, and 1t was through this mass
that we made slow work. We moved
the camp. the rude. camp of the road
builder, from place to place. as we
moved along. Birds and animals Of
almost every description were In
abundance, and wild fruits of every
kind were In plenty. yet most difficult
to conquer for the uses of man. But
we had provisions supplied from the
rear at headquarters, and with am
pie material of construction, we pro-
ceeded.
But suddenly, like one of the great
storms. there came a time of trouble
and despair, from which l narrowly
escaped with my life. l think we
had been leading the kind of life !
have described for isome two weeks
when We reached a place called Ita-
pulco. We had started to work in
the morning as usual. and all of the
1900 men were engaged in the battle
against the wilderness. 1t had raineu
during the night. and the sun had
not been up long enough to dry up
the moisture. which made the humid
ity almost unbearable. The place
where we were working was swamp
land, the black, rotting swamp vege-
tation over black alluvial SOIL. 1t
was here that we net the anaconda,
which was the primary cause of the
breaking up Of the camp.
Probably most of the laborers had
seen anacondas before. Certainly |
had They could be seen coiling
around the trees at distance. On
most occasions we did not come
within speaking distance of them, but
at this time the great serpent was
asleep, apparently, despite the noise.
Coiled around a great black tree,
with its spots visible and its appear
ance making one shudder. II awaited
its victims in the small animals of
the forest. Some men surrounded
the tree, jabbering among them
selves, and intensely interested. Two
of them went very near to the tree.
actuated by some mistaken idea Of
bravery and evidently scheming to en-
trap the monster. which was coiled
several times around the tree. Per-
haps the boa awoke just at that time.
Perhaps he had been only waiting.
but in an instant he partly uncoiled
from the trees and caught the two
men together in its power. 1t must
have been thirty feet long. and. with
itc vnoucfor cfreuofh n crushad them