The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-07-16
GOOD SNAKE STORY.
Reptile of Alleged Hoop Variety Rolls
Down Road.

The $1,000 hoop snake has been
found. 1t was not plowed up in the
ruins of Pompeii, nor dragged back
from the regions of the River of
Doubt to be garnished with labels in
the Smithsonian institution, but came
boldly into The Journal office yester-
day afternoon, or rather was carried
in, in a picking solution. The two
captors of the wonderful specimen of
the ophidian tribe for which science
has searched" fruitlessly since the
beginning of time are A. L. Town
send, fermer living nine miles west
of lola, Kans., and the foreman of
his farm, w. NJ. Strawdman.
Townsend breathlessly told of the
marvellous antics of the hoop anake,
how he had shouted to StraWdman
to whip up the old mare and flee to
save the life of the horse when the
snake twisted into loop and set out
pell nell, rolling down the road at
express train speed. They also ask
ed, that William Odell, of San Anto-
no, Texas, who recently agreed" to
give $1,000 for a specimen of this
hoop snake "critter," be communl-
Gated with and the money collected.
The recital Of the tale of capture
by Townsend contained many exciting
details "I<thought it was a joint
snake at first" related Mr.. Town
send as he turned the bottled speci-
men about for better display.
In the alcohol was an unusual va
riety of snake. The markings were
very small and delicately patterned.
The small dots on the back were of a
rich brown. The belly was flesh COL
ored. But the oldest feature of the
reptile was a spike on the tail three
quarters of an inch in length and so
tough that a knife blade failed to
make an impression on it.
"See that little sack up at the side
of the head?" said Mr.. Townsend,
pointing out a pouch which lay just
below the right eye. We'll, when
raped him he stuck out his spiked
tail into that pouch and started roll
ing away like streak. l hit him
again and he began to fight back.
The third time l struck him, he pull
ed his tail out of the pouch, placed it
| in its mouth, and then tried to strike
me with the spike. He had smeared
poison on his tail when he placed it
in his mouth. The odor of the poison
was so strong 1 had to hold my nose.
1T was a fierce fight he put up.
When I finally held his head down
with a green elm stick he struck with
his tail and the spike was so hard it
bored into the wood like gimlet.
Then the snake plowed the spike
into the ground and kicked backward
just like a dog might scratch with
his hind feet when pinned down. The
tail burrowed a deep hole into the
hard gravel and then when he kicked
it backward, stones and pebbles flew
40 feet out across the road. When
he couldn't get away, he wrapped his
spike up over his head again, stuck
the spike into the pouch near his
eye, and started to roll again.
Mr.. Townsend hays this is only the
second hoop snake he has seen during
life largely devoted to reptiles. The
fierceness of the battle waged with
the snake before it was placed in
the picking bottle, IS even more real
istic as Mr.. Strawdman interposes to
refresh Mr.. Townsend's memory as
to the details of the struggle. 1t was
Mr.. Strawdman who whipped up the
mare and cantered off down the road
to get the horse out of the danger
zone. Consequently, some Of the bat
tie were not witnessed at first hand
by Strawdman, but on the later stag
es of the capture he substantiates
Townsend at every turn. Townsend
has written Odell at San Antonio that
he will sell the reptile for $1,000
Kansas City Journal.