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sclens Sonlbisi PICKENS, S. C. LISHED EVERY THURSDAY. a Year Invariably in Advance. red at sickens, S. C. Postoffice as Senond Class Mai! Matter. ARY HIOTT, Editor and Mgr. 7* * * THE HORN SNAKE. * 2veral weeks ago The Sentinel ished the re,,ort that a horn (or ) snake had been killed in the ky Bottom section of Pickens y. T(lTe Greenville Piedmont ..d the Item and said there was .uch thing as a horn snake in country and the hoop snake ex I in imagination only. The Co bia State also ridiculed the idea such a snake really existed, as several others. ast week The Sentinel reproduc from Logan's History of Upper th Carolina facts that proved the n snake was in this section before Revolutionary War and was itly dreaded by the Indians and y settlers. Ve are bringing the proof closer ie ths week. n an effort to learn more of th< n snake The Sentinel has inter Ned several people who have actu seen these reptiles and we be e the information we have gain is sufficient to prove to any on t there is not only such a serpen the horn snake, but that it ha :n known to make a circle of itsel I roll like a hoop. \lost everybody has heard of th rn (or hoop) snake, but few hav :ually seen them. The belief tha ere is such a snake is so genera d tales of it so numerous tha .'re is bound to be some foundatio r it. However, in this attempt t ove that there is a horn snak 10 Sentinel is using no heresa -idence at all, but all statement adie can be proven by some of ou ost reputable and honorable eit as. The snake referred to in the r< nt news item was killed in Rock ottom by Messrs. lrank Stewar harlie and Il om r Gravley. W ave seen one of the Messrs. (Grp !y and he tells us the amu" w early nine feet long angiJs large n average man's thi od. The snake end was in ,th aio track of th 0oad wVheyir /first seen andl was sho .Vhe 111 iot it violenitly br'ought it aMi4uer its hack and struck it int he ground. An examinat ion of' th nake p)roved that two or three inach s of the extreme (end of its tail wa ahardl, horny subhsta nce' which taper0 ~d to a sharp l)oint andl in the ema * >f this point was a pin-like "sting yr." It is supplosed that the snak< * fliuts out its p)oison wvith this stin~ger (loor the past several years man: cattle in the Rocky Bottom sectio1 have been found dleadl and no caus for dea1th could be found. It is noi thought by the people up there tha the large horn snake recently kille in that section was the cause of th death of the cattle. There is n proof of this, but it is a likely sur position.) Mr. "Buddy" Patterson, wvho kille .wo horn asnakes this summer, wan *nterviewedl by Mr. E. D. (Lige Thastain for The Sentinel. Mi Thastain is one of our best know: * itizens and his word cannot for on * noment be. doubted in the least. IH knows all parties mentioned in hi interview andl vouches for them The first one of these snakes tha Mt. Patterson killed was near Mr SLee $tansell's home on Big Easta tee. Mrs. Stansell discovered it an< called to Mr. Patterson, who waII 'aearby. Hie cameC and shot tho mrake. After its head was shot en. Lirely from its body the snake threwi ta tall ove'r and struck its horn int< ;he ground exactly as did the ono killed by Messrs. Stewart and Grayv ley. The -Stansells and Pattersor never having seen such a snake be. fore, they called In Mr. Cling Bowven the oldest citizen of the section, who said' it was a horn snake and1( that he had seen them before. The other horn snake Mr. Patterson killed this summer was at Standing Rock on the line between North and South Carolina. It wvas first seen by a daughter of Mr. Colema'n Aiken. She called to her' father to conme kill it. He came with a hoe, but after see ing the snake decidled it was too, big and serious looking to tackle with a hoe, so he called Mr. Patterson to come with his gun. After being shot It acted like the others andl stuck its horn into the earth. Both (these snakes are described as being six or seven feet long andl as large a anman's le at the knee. Their cept that some six or eight inchei below the neck there were stripes that run up and down, and thebr head., are thick from top to bottom instead o . ming broad from side t< side. The horns on the end of thel tails are something like a cock'i spur, except larger, and i the ehd of the horn is a stinger. Withou exception every person who has seer one of these snakes describes it horn and stinger exactly alike. County Auditor N. A. Christophe once killed a horn snake and his wife also killed one. While their soi Ernest was hoeing in the field once he dug a snake from under a rool The snake - inmediately wrappee itself around the hoe handle an struck the handle with its tail sev eral times. This is the one Mrs Christopher Wiled. Mr. Ernes "h.'.".opher is now manager of Ben son's store in Pickens and he als distinctly remembers this inciden that happened when he was a boy. Mr. Wade H. Chastain killed horn snake when he was a boy Sheriff Roark killed a small one o Wolf Creek near Pickens last Jula Mr. W. W. Aiken saw one that wa killed on his place above Picker several years ago. Mr. Aiken also tells us that i distinctly remembers hearing h mother tell of seeing a snake rollin like a hoop. Mrs. Aiken did n< hear of this snake but saw it wil her own eyes. Mr. Alonzo Pace tells us thi when a young man he was fishing c Twelve Mile river with several cor panions and they saw a snake rollir like a hoop. When the mnake reac ed the shrubbery near the raver bar it straightened out and was killi by Mr. Pace and his companior It was a horn snake and Mr. Pa described its horn exactly like othe have described them. Mr. J. L. LaFoy, who is now an o man, says he lkilled a horn snake the Travelers 'Rest section Greenville cuonty some thirty yea ago. The snake was after a do but was crawling. Mr. LaFoy al t. saw a horn sna'ke fastenedl in a tr I on Mr. Marion Hunt's place on tl t Cox bridge road about forty yea . go. The snake had thrown its hoi into the tree and could not relea e it. When Mr. La~oy saw the snal Iy was dead and the leaves of ti s tr-- , which was known to have bee r -div a short time before, were wit All of the above t -tiIn( nv i I ic"I ',,nty 4itizien who ar<- a ho/nortabhe aInd reliale yr w\\ m il ven Ia.'ty cam mI?I 1.. % ',ti; et \v, '6, s bmit that it ab. - .e l(P f t hat t h- hor snake do exi:. We have heard of othe who have seen these reptiles, bi we are not publishing any hearsa vilence" at all, and, besides, we b Ieve the evidlence~ we have pro(duct Tlhere is no doubt but there suhasrpenlt asthe horn snake a thatt it has been knowvn to make hoop of itself and roll like one, no withstanding the fact that so-calit herpetologists fail to mention it their books, and the learned edlit< of the Columbia State. has never set one. We trust that this evidence also sufficient to make a believer the editor of The Greenville Pie mont. He is a good friend -Pickens county and he should give tcredit for our snakes, too. e Since the above wvas put in ty] a The Piedmont has expressed furth - doubt of horn snakes being Pickens. We believe, howvever, th the above dlisposes of every argi Iment The Piedmont put uip. Does The Piedmont still think thi the only reason we believe the hor snake is here is because it wvas he: a hundred yer ago? Does The Piedmont still dloul that a horn snake was killedi Rocky Bottom this year? And does The Piedmont still thin that we have producedl no testimon that wvould be accepted by a Piec< 1ens county jury? Come, Colonel; come clean an acknowvledge that we have prove our case. And then we will tell yo about that "magnolia altissima," et< *1OLD TIME PRINTER DEAD. Mr. Charlie Tilden, an old tim printer wvho had spent most o( his lat ter years in Anderson, recently dliet out West, wvhere he had gone ii search of health. Charlie knew mana of the famous "tourist" prin'ters o1 his (lay and at one time wvorkedl wit1 Opie Read, the author, when Rea( w'as a prinlter. Ini the 80's Charli< worked in Pickens and he used t< tell how lie kept two water' buckets on the table in the shop, one tille(' with water andl the other filled wit): whiskey and1( his friends wecre wch. come to help) themselves to which. ever beverage. they preferred. So far as we knowv whiskey wvas Char. lie's. only fault. Outside of that he wa*is a good man and a good printer. We hope that he finally conquered his fault and that all is well with Q) rS PClo ~ 1 e is A" ,h LtI n *1 I- I i 1 rs Announilngwi i I $25-$3o0 la 1 Styled finely and tail n famous clothes must be--ar Fall products of our leads opportunity for distinctly u Really, clothes so fi > should call for no further we only hope you will see here. l* We've the newest sty] n others with reserve, and range of sizes. Every man will find every man will find them h< Tomorrow will suit us OUR STANE Arrow Brand 6 Florshiem Sho< Stetson and Sc) 1Arrow Collars. Knit Ties. E-Z, Ivory and ] T.1. BEN PIckens & New Fal thes.. -4- Deind n ad o ordsbtNtialy Falluc detailecooias h ng Daese hold made too patrne, andwi price-deae nthate oernb thellothe tha Bes knwfabrics toet and hs oae susantially, xasuchbl his ceraily clonomicalr, the fne.a vle esarics rthers.tyan himpal cohsonerelend