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Show AJV OLD MISER. Xrampj Who In-Oaded Cabin Left In Hajle After Struggle Strug-gle XVtth Rcpiilci. A tramp was badly bitten by vviiuiii cms snakes In mi attempt to lob the bnnty of Hobble Ilealli. u miser who for many jeiirs has lived lu it secluded pot In the mountains cut of bete ays the Tyson (Vt.) eonespoiidenl r the New York World. Another trump escaped after two ribs hml been crushed lu the colls of n lion eou-otrlctor. eou-otrlctor. Hobble 1 lentil, so called because of n plimllilllk'tlon w-bleh liuilies him lllnii. cniui' here over tweuty-llve years agn during the gold erase In the vicinity of Itnuud bike, In the "kingdom" of Plymouth The gold lay In ipiartz rock well back In the mountain rei esses, and It took several years and n small fortune to develop the fact that the precious metal did not abound In paying pay-ing quantities. Henry Tor, an Ibig-llslitiiitii. Ibig-llslitiiitii. still owns the Itonk mini mid claims to make a good living bv work lng it single banded. The only minor besides Vox to stay was Heath. He located a claim deep In the woods and as years went by be-enme be-enme a miser of the most pronounced type. That be actually mined some gold has been established, but how much of the precious metal bo has succeeded suc-ceeded In freeing from the quartz Is an open question. Stories that the old miser kept snakes In bis cabin have kept the country folk pretty well away from the vicinity, nnd It was not until tho tramps tried to rob the place that the exact facts became known, It then developed that the hermit really possessed n large number of ndders, rattlers, grass and black snakes, which are friendly with him, but which set upon strangers All nre native reptiles rep-tiles except the constrictor, which was bought from n trnvellng snake charm-r charm-r several years ago. The tramps told their story to a fnrmcr named Tease, who eared for them after their hair raising cxperl-em cxperl-em e. They are said to admit trying to I rob Hobble, but deny having taken anything. They claim to 'hnve seen n box of gold nuggets overturned In the fight with the snakes. They watched the shanty for two days before tho old man left, wishing to use no violence. Finally, seeing him take his flshpolc and depart, they advanced. Uvldently the old man was not afraid of thieves, for be left the door ajar. When the men stepped Inside they saw nothing of vnlne and began a hunt for food. They bad been searching for several minutes v'l1P" ,)m' noticed n movable tone at the side of the llreplace. Ho removed It, nnd n small wooden box was disclosed. The tramp was ou tho point of opening open-ing It when he heaid a hiss direct! v behind him and turned to see a big black snake colling for a strike. Thero was oil" table In the room, nnd both tramps made for It at once. They bad hardly reached tho top befoie the room was full of snakes. A moment later they were nil crawl-lag crawl-lag for the table, and the Invaders were nenrly paralyzed with fright. They had THE 1100M WAS VCLIi OP H.N A K KB. the choice of staying on the table unarmed un-armed or making u mn for It. They hose tho latter course. In quick succession they leaped for tbe door. The first one got to the threshold, when an adder colled under a bench struck him In the leg. ne hook the snake otT nnd .-limbed u mall spruce tree. The other reached the open air after a tierce stnigglo with the constrictor. The adder which had bitten the tint tramp was of the striped Tarlety and not particularly poisonous, but the man's leg swelled to twice its normal aire, nnd ho was so dizzy that he could hardly keep his seat Down below the addors nnd blnck snakes hlsaAd, the rattlers rattled, and the constrictor colled about th trunk. At th end of two hours the hsnait ttiiroJ and dnrre the ftnki Into th hanty with a srwiteh, Than a mJtA the quaking tramy dosvn anxt aaaata thra llMm to a chaptar of flaa Mbl rotating to tha atn of oaltaf . VU Qan told thorn thay eonia go, arfid ftysy, iv parUxJ aa fact na fbsrtr tnJurtM would penult. ( |
