Philadelphia, Pa.—It was a whopper! No, not the story, but the snake. It was part of the narrative of a Lycoming county huckleberry contractor who employs an army of pickers. He was here to place a consignment of the sylvan fruit with a Philadelphia produce merchant.
    “Up in the Alleghenies,” he said, “they are telling snake stories. The snake is prominent now because of the huckleberry season. The berries grow only on the high mountainside or snake zone and their harvesting is attended with actual danger. There is no place so snug as a huckleberry bush for a snake to hide under and as sure as a hand is thrust beneath the foliage sheltering a copperhead it will receive a hypodermic injection of green venom that will harass the owner for a lifetime.
    “The berry-picking season is a time of adventure and of braving the rattler in his den, and therefore the flood of snake stories.
    “Everybody at the postoffice in my village, where the farmers gather in the evening, was talking about a huge black snake that makes a sequestered outlying farm its headquarters. The reptile was first seen on the farm five years ago and since then it has made its appearance with increased length and girth every summer. The farmer is a skilled hunter and a good shot, but his bullets have so far been wasted on the heath.
    “It was not only his size, but his extraordinary speed, which astounded the farm hand who first saw him.
    “ ‘I was cutting a rye field and had stopped my mower to rest the horses.’ he said, ‘when I heard a low whistle, which I thought must be a locust. I throwed my eye over the field. Locust, the devil! It was a black racer. The head and about two feet of the snake stuck out above the level of the rye, and he swept across the field faster than a horse can run. He passed close to me and his eyes flashed like fire.’
    “At another time the snake was surprised by a woodcutter, who came upon his snakeship taking a nap at full length on a rail fence. When aroused the snake snapped together like a stretched elastic band and glided off into the woods.
    “Here was a chance to take his measure, as the serpent was slightly longer than the rail he occupied. The rail measured ten feet.
    “Since then the racer has grown enormously. His agility has enabled him to capture and devour scores of toads and birds, with now and then fowl from the henhouse.
    “One night the farmer was awakened, so the story goes, an unusual commotion in the barnyard. All the animals on the place were excited—the horses were stamping, the cows bawling, chickens cackling and geese quaking. Above all was the terrified squealing of a pig. The farmer lit his lantern and ran to the barn just in time to see an anaconda gliding off with a young pig in his jaws.
    “Oh! why din’t he think of his gun? The black robber disappeared into the dark borderland beyond the lantern’s light.
    “They were saying at the village store—but repeat it not to ‘Sweeney’—that the snake was seen milking the cows which are sent to the woodland pasture.
    “A story came to the village last week that the hired man on the farm had just seen the snake stretched across the road. The head had disappeared in the brake at one side of the road and there still was more snake coming with no tall in sight So Cy beat it.”

From— The Columbus Commercial. (Columbus, Miss.), 03 Nov. 1912. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.