Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1903 — SNAKES FIGHT FOR A FROG. [ARTICLE]

SNAKES FIGHT FOR A FROG.

They Battle Until Both Art Completely Kxhausted. “That story about snakes having a fine regard for the property rights of each other was all right, and I was glad to know that some one would put In a good word for the snakes,” said a man from one of the parishes in tha New Orleans Tlmes-Democrat, “but as much as I would like to believe la these fine ethical refinements in connection with reptilian life, I recall one instance which seems to mar at last a portion of the theory with respect to the snake’s fine sense of justice. One of the fiercest battles I ever saw was between two snakes, and the stake was a small frog, a measly little frog that wasn’t really worth fighting for. The fight was in a clear break In the edge of the Louisiana marsh and I had a good, uninterrupted view of the event. "My attention was attracted to the combat by tbe swirl and splash of water. Did you ever see a whirlpool playing along a dusty surface? Did yon ever see a comic paper’s picture of a cat fight? Well, that was the way the fight between the snakes Impressed me. The water was spraying around in tbe form of an eddy and It was some little time before I could get a glimpse of the snakes. Whether they were trying to drown each other, choke each other, or what they were trying to do I cannot say. But I never Baw a fiercer tempest in a small area. “I did not know what the trouble was until the subsidence set in, until the snakes had reached the point when they could do no more than lash with their tails and bias at each other. Finally one of them broke and scuttled toward the bank with the other hissing defiance at him. When the scuttler had disappeared In the weeds at the edge of the water the conqueror, more dead than alive as a result of the conflict, swimming a distance of some five or six feet, grabbed the little frog which bad been tbe innocent cause of all the trouble. “Which snake got the frog first, of course, I do not know, but I am justified In thinking that the frog wan the cause of all the trouble. Of course, I am not positive that they fought over tbe frog, but that was tbe tmprneelnm I got at the time and tt was the only apparent excuse for the display of belligerency."