The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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STORIES OF FINDING AND KILLING UNUSUALLY LARGE RATTLESNAKES
by S. C. Turnbo
Among other snake stories we present a few of the finding and killing of large rattlers as related by hunters and others. Jerry Hutchison, an early settler of Ozark County, Mo., tells of Jim Loftis discovering and shooting a rattlesnake which Loftis reported to be ten feet long. "As the man seemed to be over excited about the reptile I and others went from Isaac Mahan’s to view the monster and found that the serpent had crawled away from where Loftis had shot it. But we soon found it a short distance away barely able to crawl. The reptile was about 7 ½ feet long and measured ten inches around the middle part of its body. The snake carried only seven rattles but they were an inch broad." Mr. Hutchison said that he cut out one of its fangs with his pen knife. The fang was in size according to the size of the serpent. The snake was killed in a glade at the foot of Bald Mountain near the "Nat’l Richmond land and where the old wagon way leads up the hill towards Dugginsville and near three miles west of the mouth of Brattons Spring Creek.
Mrs. Elizabeth Clark says that during the Civil War while she lived in Bear
Hollow which empties into Little North Fork above the mouth of Little Creek,
she killed a rattlesnake which was seven feet long and carried fourteen
rattles. Mrs. Clark says that when the snake was discovered it was in a
coil. The bulk of it resembled the size of an ordinary homemade washtub.
The largest rattlesnake the writer ever saw was killed on what is now the
Gum Smith farm on Elbow Creek in Taney County in 1850. This was before Josiah
Bone, the first settler of this land, located there. The reptile was nearly
six feet long and also carried fourteen rattles. Its body was large in proportion
to its length. My father was stock hunting afoot on the creek and I was
with him and was barefooted. We found the rattler in the tall grass by hearing
it singing.
Mr. A. (Aus) Brown says that his father Wm. M. Brown killed a rattlesnake
under his house floor when he lived on Bee Creek, which flows into White
River in Taney County, Mo. Mr. Brown said that the snake was seven feet
long and 18 inches in circumference. "This was in 1841, and just before
my father made his residence below the mouth of Bear Creek." said Mr.
Brown.
A few years ago I was talking with old Uncle Sammy Stone, who lived near
Thornfield in Ozark County, Mo., about incidents of old times. "I never
had much trouble with wild beasts," said he, "but I had a fearful
time with a big rattlesnake once which makes my flesh fairly crawl when
ever I think of it. When I first come to the valley of Little North Fork,
the settlers told me about meeting unusually large reptiles here in the
Ozarks. I gave these snake tales but little attention except I laughed at
those who were bold enough to tell such stories. I believed half of the
accounts were imagination and the other half was coloring matter, spread
on to make these stories sound big and smoother. I was not convinced to
listen at stories of "snakedom" until one day I was face to face
with a diamond rattlesnake. After this I never refused to believe any sort
of a snake story told me. On a certain time I and a companion were hunting
in the hills over the line in Fulton County, Ark. The country was thinly
settled and rank grass and other vegetation was thick all over the woods.
While I was making my way through the grass and weeds, I got within a few
feet of the rattler before I knew it. I was so horrified at the sight of
it that for a moment I seemed to be under the influence of its charm. The
serpent lay in a coil just to my right, and struck at me immediately, barely
missing my breast. As it made the stroke it lengthened out and dropped full
length at my feet. I have heard some people talk about getting scared nearly
to death at a snake. I was that time. The reptile recoiled itself and drew
its ugly head back and struck at me again. But by some means I avoided the
stroke by jumping out of the way. After striking at me the second time it
recoiled again and lay quiet. When I stepped back out of reach of its fangs
I recovered from the shock and shot it through the head and there was some
terrible squirming of the serpent while it was in the throes of death. My
friend and I were separated about 200 yards at the time. When I shot the
serpent I called him to me. After the monster quit moving we took the measure
of it and found that its length was eight feet and was 21 inches around
the biggest part of its body. I cannot call to mind how many rattles it
carried but recollect they were one and one half inches broad."
"The largest rattler I ever come in contact with," said Arch Anderson,
"was during the latter 80’s when I was living with Uncle Abe Anderson
in the Blanket Bottom on White River. I discovered the snake and Dan Crawford
killed it. The serpent had just swallowed two full grown rabbits which gives
you some idea of the size of it."
One day near Dugginsville two of Hiram Bias’ sons—Gid and John—informed
me that their father before the Civil War killed a large diamond rattlesnake
on Lower Turkey Creek of Little North Fork that had also gulped down two
grown rabbits.
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