The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1909-11-25
.C0BRAS EAT SNAKES
Awful Clash at Meal Time in
Philadelphia Zoo.
Seions OF "First Families OF Indian
Fall to Appreciate Atmosphere Of
the "City of Rrotherly
love.n

the "city of Rrotherly
Love.n
Philadelphia, Pa.-Three snakes are
raising cain out in the geological gar
dens. They are raising so much cain
that all the o men, from Superin.
tendent Carson down, are getting
snakes. They arrived at the gardens
the other day. and ever since then
have been whipping up one constant
row and shattering the nerves Of
everybody roundabout.
1t Is easy enough to understand,
even in the cas- of hardened and sea.
soned snake men. For these three
%troublous serpents are v~ariously
known by such n~erve-soothing cpl
thets as snake-eating cobras, or the
tree-climbing cobras. or giant cobras.
And when they bite they kill. Their
venom has no antidote.
1t might be added that this species Is
the only variety of real snakes that
will show fight to a man without be-
Ing first attacked by him. In the 20
ology of the Imagination there are, Of
course, other well-known varieties Of
equally active sepentines, but they are
pink or blue Or green or yellow in
color, and they are hard to grasp,
while these snake-eaters at the ZOO
are a plain stony gray and can be
distinctly felt, If any one cares to try.
They are the latest and snappiest
thing In the cannibal line, are these
cobras. and the story of their trans
portation to the gardens and of their
subsequent lively pranks is no mere
silly season yarn. 1t is a story, as the
critics of fiction would say, filled
with the w%hipcords and the bite of real
life."
They come of one of the first, best
and rarest families of India. They
are scarce and they are valuable.
There are plenty of your common,
maa-eating cobras in India, but your
snake eater is a prize.
Consequently, when Robert D. Car.
son, superintendent of the geological
gardens, heard that three of them
were en- route to New York in a
wooden box he hurried over and
bought them, eating up a good slice
OF o money in the transaction. He
bought them of an Indian wild ami.
NAL trainer.
When they arrived at the ZOO they
caused great excitement, for every
well-informed zoo keeper knows the
reputation OF the snake-eating cobra.
The next day these SNAKES boiled
up into n of the worst and one of
the most remarkable stews ever en-
countered at the zoo. Keeper Hess had
thrown In the usual daily meal of one
snake per snake to the cobras, on the
natural assumption that each snake
eater would make a dive for a de-
tached victim. Some time later he
heard the noise Of a regular whip
cracking scrap in the cobra cage and
hurried to the scene.
Two of the cobras were trying to
swallow the same snake. One had
started at the head and the other ct
the tail of their victim, and when they
met swallowing hard, at the middle
ASeh o4 SOlliSlOl1, llH HIT WAS
thick with flying, flashing cobra.
Hess stood electrified and HELPLESS
before the strange sight. What to dc
was a question, so be just watched
By and by they sank to the floor and
started in a strenuous gulping contest,
each trying to swallow the other in
side, snake and all.
tt roco1-od ;+,aIe to-
which snake had the rudest yawn and
he most jaw, and soon the smaller
cobra began a slow and unpleasant
journey down his brother cobra's
mouth.
That was too much for Hess. To
be a cannibal is bad. To swallow
ones brother is hideous. Hess raised
a narrow portion of the sliding door
pulled the head of the two-snake.swal.
lowing snake out a little way, and
then untelescoped the smaller cobra,
which he afterward slowly deprived
of the lunch that was in him by draw.
Ing him off the snake that was half
inside him and half inside the other
cobra.
Inls was a per1lous task, as cobra
number three was in the ofhng, wink
Ing his weather eye at the wholesale
disgorging. But Hess got way with
the job and is now recovering from
the strain.
That is the story of those three
scrapping snakes to date. The gentle
creatures are among the choicest
prizes that have been gathered in by
the zoo officials in recent years.
Rain Bares Radium Mine.