Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1879 — SOME SNAKE STORIES. [ARTICLE]

SOME SNAKE STORIES.

A correspondent tells of the killing of a rattlesnake a few days since in Todd county, Ky. When first discovered a little child was playing with it, the snake meanwhile darting out its tongue. —Elkton Register. A daughter of Mr. Joseph B. Brown, of Two Buns, Lumpkin county, Ga., sat down on a huge rattlesnake the oth er day. She got up as soon as she found it out, and the snake was killed. —Atlanta Constitution. The death of Mr. Leonard Collins, of Apling county, Ga., who was bitten by a rattlesnake as he was in search of lumber to make a coffin for his mother’s remains, is announced. His suffering from the day that he received the bite to the time of bis death—a peried of about ten days—was intense, and, notwithstanding the best medical skill and attention, nothing could be found to counteract the effects of the venom upon his system. —Savannah Neios. On Sunday three boys, sons of Mr. Frederick Elliott, living near Rawlings’ station, Md., came upon a rattlesnake. They killed it, with the assistance of their dog, which soon after sickened and died. Shortly afterward one of the boys was taken very ill, and, it is feared, will not recover. —Baltimore Bulletin.

R. Sharp, who lives at East Los Angeles, appeared in his place of business to-day for the first time in several weeks. About three weeks ago, while he was irrigating his land, he was preceding the water stream, carrying a hoe to loosen the ground, and suddenly felt something sting him in the calf of his right leg. On looking down, he saw an immense tarantula clinging to his bare limb. Before he could brush it off, it gave him another bite. The shock was severe, but he did not lose his presence of mind. He at once proceeded to the house, and applied such antidotes as were at hand, and drank a large goblet of pure alcohol, followed by a bottle and a half of strong brandy. These stimulants produced but very little inebriating effect, and doubtless saved Mr. Sharp’s life. The wounds were then blistered, and, up to this morning, Mr. Sharp did not feel strong enough to go to work.— Los Angeles Star. It was a snake that made trouble in Eden, and snakes have marred the honeymoon of Mr. Junius W. Hight, of Franklinton, N. 0. Scarcely had he installed his bride in her new home, when the reptiles made their appearance—at first by twos and threes, then by battalions. The first one he killed was ten feet long, and since then he has sem one twenty feet long, with a body as big as a man’s leg They ate his chickens; they kept up an unpleasant hissing around the house all night; a big fellow out in the woods drove slumber from Mrs. Hight’s eyelids by his uncanny bellow; another actually cbased her over her own doorstep. About a week ago she waked her husband up;

there was a queer noise in the house, she said. He struck a light, and found half a dozen snakes of the largest size squirming about on the floor. Mrs. Hight started for the door, declaring that she would stay no longer in a snake den; she was going back to her father’s. Hight followed. —New York Sun.