This usually quiet city was stirred to its depths one morning this week by the announcement that a huge “snow snake” some 10 feet in length, after devouring a dog, had been killed and was on exhibition at the residence of a gentleman near the extreme southern limits of the city. G. W. Harris was the first to “bite” and hurried to inspect it, doubtless thinking it the product of some blind pig and hoping thereby to obtain some clue to a jug. The news spread and several wise traveling men and a large number of our “up to snuff” young men started forth to view it, one of our draymen making a nice little sum in conveying them to the serpent’s lair. It was the best sell of the season, but on account of the respectable family connections of the young men we suppress their names.

From— Twice-a-Week Plain Dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa), 14 Feb. 1899. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.