Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1893 — How the Blacksnake Fights. [ARTICLE]

How the Blacksnake Fights.

“You wouldn’t believe me,” said old Jacob Bloom, of Laurel Kun, to a gang of woodsmen the other day, “you wouldn’t believe me if I’d tell you the blacksnake is boss among snakes in this country, but it’s a fact. \ blacksnake will whip any other kind of a snake you can trot out and not half try.” Some of the boys laughed and said they didn’t think a blacksnake would be in it with a rattlesnake at all. There was a large rattlesnake in the camp which the woodsmen kept in a box with a glass cover on to amuse themselves with after working hours. Jim Brewer, of this place, who nappened to he there at the time and heard Mr. Bloom’s observations, chipped in and said: “I’ll bet a blacksnake would not last long if you’d put him in the box with that rattler.” “Wouldn’t!” exclaimed Bloom. “Why, he'd chokp the rattler to death before he khowed what happened to him, an’ in order to convince you of the fac’ I’ll go out au’ capture a blacksnake and show you.” The subject was then dropped and the boys forgot it, but about 4 o’clock

in the afternoon the old man came in with a blacksnake a little over three ,feet long. The rattler was nearly two feet longer. “Now,” he says, “I’ll show you how it’s done. ” And he put the blacksnake into the box with the rattler. Both snakes seemed to be considerably agitated. The rattler shook his tail with an angry whizz, and stuck out his tongue in a menacing way, and the blacksnake squirmed around and made several feints with his tail. The rattler was angry and coiled himself to strike, but before he was quite ready the blacksnake had tajren a hitch around the rattler’s neck with his tail and began to haul taut. The rattler writhed and squirmed and thumped himself around, but all to no purpose. The blacksnake kept his hold and drew tighter. Finally the contortions of the rattler ceased. He was dead. The blacksnake held on five minutes longer, then calmly unfolded his tail and curled himself up in a corner of the box. “There!” said the old man, triumphantly. “Hereafter when I tell you anything about snakes you can put it down as fact.”—Punxsutawney Spirit.