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Show TROOPS ONJRONTIER Fought for Their Lives When They Found They Had Camped in Den of Rattlesnakes. "Sceral months befotu we struck tho stnrntlon end nf tho HIu Horn campaign cam-paign of 1S76," said n cternn Indlm tighter to a l'ost reporter the othr day, "Gen Crook s command, to which I belonged, be-longed, bcliifj a. member of company C, fourteenth Infnntry, during tho match north In pursuit of the Sioux, ttl licit tho I'ondir Hher country In the midst of a ilronchliiB rnln. In fact, It had been ruining for seeril dit)s pilar to oui arihal on the banks of tlilJ sttcnin, nnd the duwnitour contiiiuod foi siwiul ila8 nftu we intirvl what In fail weather Is one of the most bi tutllul sections of the West. "The usual results followed In that the low bottom and prnlil'' lulls nlnnir either sldo of this stream bouiino Inundated, In-undated, tlrhliiL' thousands of pralile rattlesnakes lo aeek lefuu'o from Iho wntirs on higher I in J. 'ihli fact eld not, however. nttruU our uttentloi until un-til some dajs nfter wo rirlin'l the l'cw-tler l'cw-tler Itlicr alloy, and then our notlie was drawn to It In a Lry sii'ltle.i und striking manner. Wo in in lied along In this rnln, every man drenchul tn Iho skin slept In It, and live 1 Juit ns miserably mis-erably ns it 's possible for hum in beings be-ings to llic until tho till -tl di, nfter teuchliiB this nliey. w'i r, after ttois-Ing ttois-Ing the l'owder tlvir. tho s in unit) cut stioni; nnd brlllHnt, Juat as tho -n'n-mand iiailn.il the summit nf u dlilde, ciimliiB In sight of thrto leiutlful wood-ed wood-ed knolls seal tired about over the hlh jilutcou country that rcse In a gi idual slope fioin tho river. ' Heulng tha condition wc were In Gen. Crook gave orders to pto'iol to tho llntst knoll of the thre nnd thera to halt for sleep nnd test for a day and i night. Uvery poldlcr lit tho coninnnl was worn out, fatigued nnd disheartened. disheart-ened. Ho also gave orders for us to banc out our blankots and clithlng, every stitch of which wns so.iklnit wet from tho rnln nnd vviter through which wo had been ploddloB fir llirca djjs and nights. "Tho knoll that flen. Cioik had cc-lected cc-lected for our rump nil coveie 1 with a growth of vligln tlmbr. Then win nhnaMry conslderuhlo un lergrowtli of redge grass, vines nnd nthr vcBi'tutlon, nnd ns tho region In uuntioii had nevci been liutnt ov . tb stn5s3lve ttops of vines nnd gras? that hid Blown up on 1 died down for c.ituiies hud fmiiifil u mat over the suifi'o of ths knoll tint, I duo say .nun have I "en full n fct In thlckn-jJ. Mtj orlr to halt Ind scarcely died nway em tna bnezj when uvety m in In tho coinniniiu was UnillM by an ominous br-r-r-r-ir-irr llrst en ono side, then on tho nthe", th ll nil mound him, lleforo wo coul 1 oven -eal-Ize that tho place was llteialiy alive with nitllesnnkis, vvhh.li, dilven Irnm their holes nnd hihltitlius In tho low giouuds bortlcrlng tho l'owder tlver by tho ilslng'wntcrs of tint slieam. had sought shelter nnd refuse from tho Inundation In-undation In t,ho thick mil of dead undergrowth un-dergrowth on this, tho nlRlnst point of Iiiul In the legion, before v- Ind time to ven stni k iirms or Jlsmnvn', twelve nn n nntl twtntj -three horses wore bitten bit-ten by these snakes llieic wns no such thins as Peeing from the ptnee or beating n Insty ii-ticat ii-ticat for the tbingtr w is upon us, nnd tho men, lenllzliiB their peill, drew forth their rnniinds t'tid w"nl to work killing annkea. Thla nnr nmntl luan, and nfter It wns over o even la It the 1 at It ourselves, but lor a full fortj minutes ufier the llrst mm was bitten lou never saw a lot o." mm work and light nny harder thin we dl 1 In killing those snakes. Not a vnrl vv is spoken, not nn order giv-u, but fioin (Jen t'rook down to the mulo dilveis every linn fought for his life: usalnat the mr!nd of tiptlles thnt ni tji.'t as one wns kllhtl n dozen seemed In aprlna forth In its pi ice, and vhleS seeniel In fairly swarm forth ft jni out the giound The mat of decayed vegetntlnn was too wet to burn, uthei wli wo would have driven the.ni out hi Lr, mil an the case stood we simply ha I to flghl for our lives Dis. .MiOIIIUutHy ami Parhskl had their hands full foi n fool two hours, for as soon us a man or u hoise was bitten ho vms takm to tho phjalclans vvlmse nnr.'nj I Imo Just m ntloned, and who bad nil :lnv e ,uld do to save the lives of tlinii whom lh leptlles hail bitten 1'orlunalolv i.o loat neither man nor hone, although seveiul of the former became n iteK nnd for a lime It wan toouht tint tho snake bites they Ind teeelviM weu'd novo fatal "Well, when flnnlly we finished tho Job we hnd piles of dead ruttlesnikes Ivlng ubout all tho way finm onj to three und one-half feet Ir. height I never In all my life s iw so mnny snakes In one place Hi en nfter wo had finished und were ablo to unpacn and set up our camp In safety tho men were killing snakes on the outskirts of the camp all during that dny In fnct, for the full times wc remnlntd In camp, which was from early tint morning until tho next. "I came very near being bitten myself, my-self, and nt one time I was trjlng to dodge flvo snakes and kill nnnther all ut the samo time, I happene 1 In get right In whero the leptlles who thickest thick-est nrd where men worn belns bitten nn every hand, nni from the tlm l wo began on the snakes with out imuiodt It was fully an huur before we hid a plice big enough to spread 1 blitilti t on cleat ed of theso pests. Out pll wns Ihe largest, for when wo Kot through company C had a stnek of deil snnl-ro lint wns nliout three feet Mph nn 1 elit'it feet In length Sergt llnrr of nur turn-pany turn-pany understood how to kill a snako by catching the reptllo by th" t ill and popping Its head off on Iho same pi In. elplo of cracking a whip, and durimr the battle he nttiuctrd a grout dr-nl of attention at-tention by kilting them in this way After the bnttlo wns over the bns set ubout skinning the repllICB end whn we left neirly every soldier In the command com-mand hail a snake hatband Waihlng-to Waihlng-to n l'ost |
