Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-09-20
Call Nazis
''Moccasin,'
Not Rather
Runyon Makes Appeal
10 President Roosevelt
BY DAMON RUNYON


CPEAkING Of rattlesnakes,
~ old John Strickland of Geor-
gia. would undoubtedly deem
President Roosevelt'S associa-
ton of this noble creature with
the Nazis as base calumny of
the rattleSnake.
John Strickland was sOme-
thing of an admirer of the rat
tleSnake.
1.-THE rattlesnake Il a gentle
man" John used TO say. HE
always rings his bell and blows
his horn and gives you plenty
Of time TO get out Of his way.
The rattlesnake never comes
looking YOU up To cause YOU
trouble"
Now Of course the NaZiS. as
represented by their submarines.
neither ring nor blow. They
strike without warning. We
think if John Strickland had
been given President Roose-
velt's speech TO edit before its
delivery, he would have cut out
the name of his favorite reptile
where Mr.. Roosevelt said:
"When YOU see a rattlesnake
poised to strike. YOU do not wait
until he has struck before you
crush him"
Most likely John would have
substituted moccasin for rattle
snake.
LIE DID not fancy the mecca
- sin. In the first place. the
very looks of the moccasin Of
Tended Johns esthetic sense.
The moccasln is an ugly looking
cuSs.
In the second place, il seems
that once upon a time moe
caSin rolled off a cypress log
into Johns boat as he was pol
ing through swamp and cooled
itself on the seat and when
John inadvertently sat down on
the moccasin it bit him in the
pistol pocket.
John said a critter that would
pie man Settln' definitely
lacked manners and sportsman
ship.
IL was not the inconvenience
OF the bite that annoyed him as
much as the fact that the moe
caSln injected some of its virus
INTO a plug of tobacco John was
. carrying in his hip pocket and
spoiled the taste.
Anyway. he despised mecca
sins thereafter. but he never
had a bad word for the rattle
snake.
John Strickland was guide
and social companion of the in
mates of a once celebrated insti-
tuition near Brunswick. Ga,
known as Dover Hall, an ancient
cotton plantation of some 1000
acres that was operated by a
coterie of baseball notables as
a Winter hunting and drinking
resort.
John lived land may still live.
for all we know 10 the contrary
in the pincy woods not far from
the Hall and owned the best
dogs in that part of the country.
II was said that they could
trail deer. coon. poSsum and
wildcat with equal facility.
THE Dover IallerS engaged
L John and his dogs every
Winter oStensibly for hunting
purposes. but the HallerS were
all kindly disposed toward dumb
animals and hated 10 see the
dogs get overheated chasing the
creatures Of the wild.
So they let the CANNES Slum-
Der under the tables most Of the
Winter while they sat around
and listened TO John tell stories.
The deer and the coon and
the possum and the wildcat used
10 come out of the leafy glades
in the evening and peer in the
windows of Dover Hall and mar
vel that those fellows did not
issue forth and chase them
around. hut the only man they
had to fear was John Kieran.
the naturalist who would not
think Of committing mayhem on
the animals vet who had no
conjunction Of conscience about
spying on them with field glasses
in their most private pursuits.
Bill Mcclellan. who sleeps
meath the willows on Sea
Island near Brunswick, often
had John Strickland as the hero
OF his sports columns.
II was Bills opinion that
John led an ideal existence. I'M
changing in changing world.
He would quote John at
length.
Bll now has many Dover
HallerS as companions in tho
Great Beyond and we are told
that the once well-nigh impene-
trable timber on the place has
been sacrificed 10 the saw mills.
GIVE hin Twin In the piney
L woods for 80 years." John
Strickland used 10 say. land 7