The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-12-08
SOUTH CAROLINA HoRNsEAkE,
Mythical Lore About Mythical Monster
Desired by Rock Hill Men,
From the Charlotte Observer.)

(From the Charlotte OBSERVER
To the Editor of the Observer: Below
you have what Logan, the historian, mas
to say about the ''hornsnake," somewhat
abbreviated, but still the gist OF the mat
ter. He lived at Greenwood,S s. T., when
he wrote his history, in 1899, m G[een-
wood was then in Abbeville district now
county, This is the county Of your friend
Major Hemphill, Of The Charleston News
andCourier. He is no doubt familiar with
Logan's History, and with the 'Charac,
ter of the author, and, il need be, would
vouch for the trustwOrthineSs and rellapl-
lily of his fellow c~ountryman as historian
and maybe Lawson and the rest.
He must, too, have heard Of Capt. Iholn-
as Parker and Mr.. James Taggart gen
tlemen of the highest character In the
community in which they hyed. ne Knows
too. where the Calhoun settlement anu
the cabins" are, or were. And among
all, he claims to be somewhat OF an authOf-
ity on the alleged historical myths OF the
two Carolinas, as witness his denial OF Cne
re~nuineness OF the Mecklenburg Declara-
ton: of North Cardinals claim to the DlrCn
place of Andrew Jackson and his absolute
conviction, OF the verify of Gen. Marlons
potato dinner to the British officers;
The %hornsnake also seems TO be OF a
somewhat mythical character, Whetner
such a snake ever existed, n a morn
on it's tail. as a weapon Of offence and de-
fence. and whether it rolled like q 'trundl-
ed-hoop." l understand the Observer to
express decided doubts about it,, especially
the hoop feature, which it would doubtless
spell "Whoopee!" Now Major Hemphill
MAY have some mythical lore on the uo-
iect Of horned snakes, whether such snakes
ever existed in South Carolina, and IL they
did, wether they were ito the manner
born or crawled over from North CaTollna
where this horned monester" Is still said
to exist. at least I think 1 in the OD-
server of where q man had found one IN
a fence corner, an o~ld-fashioned rail worm
fence no doubt, which might be expected
to survive with and shelter such creatures
At any ratethe Major will consent to ex.
prss himself in his excellent paper he VII
have something very interesting andeA-
pertaining to say. Septuagenarian.
Rock Hill, S. c., November3.
Extract from ga History of the Upper
County Of South Carolina From the Earl1-
est Periods" etc. pages 1T to 121, by John-
II. Logan. 1859: Lawson, who traversed
the same region, upper South Carolina j
about seventy years earlier than the bot
anist jBartram,J describes another snake
under the name of the hornsnake serpent,
of q totally different character. Or the
hornsnakes, he says, I never saw but two
that l remember. They are like the rattle
snake in color, but rather lighter. They
hiss exactly like a goose when anything
approaches them. They strike at their
enemy with their tail, and kill whatsoever
they wound with, it which is armed at the
end with q horny substances, likes cocks
spur. This is their weapon. 1 have it credi-
| XIV rorNr&oI hxr fhnca tyhn cold fhQU wara
eye-witnesses, that a small locust tree,
about the thickness Of a mans arm, being
struck by one Of these snakes at 10 o'clock
in the morning, then verdant and flourish
ing, at 4 in the afternoon was dead, and the
Leaves red and withered. Doubtless, be 1t
how it will, they are very venomous, l
think the Indians do not pretend to cure
their would
"This singular statement Of the old sur
veyor, in relation to the locust tree, could
scarcely nave ever come to the knowledge
Coronaka and Wilson creeks; yet there is
still extant in that region a tradition, In
which it is related that many years ago a
man in the lower part Of the district, or In
Edgefield, being closely pursued by a
hornsnake, took refuge behind a tree,
when the enraged serpent, rolling swiftly
after him, like o trundled hoop, plunged
it's horny'sting deep into its trunk, where
it was made fast, and so diffused its venom
into the circulating sap as to destroycom
pletely in q few hours, the vitality OF the
tree y *,.xr
"Hewit informs US that the hornsnake
was found in Carolina, and owned its name
not to a horny excrescence growing upon
it's head, as some have supposed but to the
horn-like sting at the extremity of its tail
with which it defended itself, striking 1t
with great force into every aggreSsOr. 1t
vas also dseme d exceedingly venomons;
and the Indians, when stung by it, did
not resort to their usual antidote, but
instantly cut out the wounded part, as the
only safe preventive of the deadly poison
being infused through the system. Gar
rolls. Hist Col, p. S2D
Mills, in his statistics, enumerates,
among the Indigenous reptiles OF Carolina,
both the horn and bull snake. The former
must. however, have been exceedingly
rare, for at a comparatively early period,
it af,already become a creature OF curious
tradition. Lawson, it has been observed,
saw but two Of them as early as 171S, not
w%ithstanding no white man of his day en-
joyed better opportunities for making
such discoveries in, Carolina.
Zone an afternoon nearly forty years
ago d party OF gentlemen were riding from
aAbreviIle Village towards the Calhoun
settlement, and when approaching. the
place, now known as the Cabins, they pass-
ed a dwelling near the wayside, just at the
moment when a little girl whom they had
seen to cross the road some distance before
them, gave q piercing shrek, and ran
back into the house in an agony OF pain
and fright. Perceiving that something
serious had occurred, they hastily alighted
to ascertain the matter, and entering the
room found the child stretched upon a bed
and already q corpse. She had lived long
enough, however, to whisper to her moth
err that a snake had struck her while she
was in the act of gathering tirewood on the
wayside. The party instantly, sought the
spot, and there discovered a large speci-
men of the hornsnake which they dispatch.
ed. The skin OF this serpent was stuffed
and preserved by an intelligent gentlemen
of the neighbor- and 1t was long an object
of great curiosity at his residence, and
afterwards at Old Cambridge, where it
last SEEM" ~
Conversations of James Taggart and
Others