Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-05-06
HERE IS A REAL SNAKE STORY.
"Silent' Boa Constructor Was Only S.
Feet Long and Five Feet in Cir
conference.

If the spring yield of snake stories
keeps pace with the first one of the
season of 1912 it will be bumper crop.
To be sure, this first snake story of
the spring comes from PARKWAY
Amazon, which has special advanta-
ges as a snake-story country, in that
most of us haven't been there and are
not prepared offhand to express an
opinion. Anyway, it's quite Il story
for any old place.
The man who tells the snake story
is Algot Lange. He is a young Dane,
and lie is now in New York after the
most thrilling experiences in the jun
gle of the Amazon. which. as every
body knows, abounds in reptiles, fever
and cannibals. He has told all about
II in book soon to be published. with
the title "In the Amazon Jungle,
Mr. Lange is wonderful Young
man. He not only avoided being eat
ell by cannbals, but also got on good
terms with them, and was invited to
their feasts on the flesh of their enc
mics killed in battle. His stomach.
however, was only ordinary and would
not allow him to accept the invita-
lions of his hosts But to the snake
story:
During his travelling about in the
jungle Mr.. Lange often came upon
snakes of considerable size. He had
no difficulty, however, in killing them,
as they We're sluggish in their moves
ments and appeared to be inoffensive
In time he came to have rather a poor
opinion of the Amazon snake.
The Cauaoac however fotd him NOT
to jump at conclusions-or words to
that effect. They said there was a
kind of snake that would make him
sing a different song. 1t was the sue
uruius. a kind of boa constructor. 1t
was big snake. And it had the pow
err of hypnotizing people before it
coiled about them and squeezed them
to death. They called this boa con-
strictor the silent monster of the riv-
er." And il was evident that they
dreaded this big snake more than any
animal of the jungle.
And then, one bright, moonlight
night, Mr.. LANCE and his party of ma
lives came face to face with a sucflru-
jus. Says AIR. Lange:
"On 4 soft. muddy sandbar, half
hidden by dead branches / beheld a
somewhat cone-shaped mass about
seven feet in height. From the base
of this came the neck and head of the
snake fiat on the ground with beady
eyes staring at us as we slowly adj
yaneed and stopped. The snake was
coiled, forming an enormous pile OF
round. sealy monstrosity, large enough
to crush us all to death at once We
! had stopped at q distance of about Is
feet from him and looked at each 9th
er | felt as il 1 We're spellbound, UNI
able to move a step further or even to
think or act on my own initiative
Think of snake so big that he just
naturally coiled up into cone shaped
mass seven feet hig.., no wonder Mr..
Lange stood spellbound and didn't
know what to do or how to do it! He
goes on:
The snake still made no move. but
in the clear moonlight / could see its
body expand and contract in breath
ing, It's yellow eyes seeming to radiate
a phosphorescent light l felt no fear
or any inclination 10 retreat, yet was
now facing beast that few men had
ever succeeded in seeing. Thus we
stood looking at each other, scarcely
| moving an eyelid, while the great 81
| lent monster looked at u.s."
| That. of course couldn't last for
! ever. Something was bound to hap
! pen. And this is what did happen. as
MIR. LANCE tells it:
Il slid my right hand down to the
/ hotter of my automatic pistol. the nine
! milllmeter Luger. and slowly removed
| the safety lock. at the same time star.
| ing into the faces of the men. In this
| manner l was less under the spell OF
| the mesmerism of the snake and coule
to some extent think and act
| wheeled around while l still held con.
| troll of my faculties, and perceiving 6
| slight movement of the snakes coils
/ fired point blank at the head, letting
/ so the entire chamber of soft-noss
bullets. Instantly the other men woke
\ up from their trance and in turn fired
emptying their Winchesters into tn,