Posted on 03/29/2025 10:37:38 AM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
Early on the morning of Oct. 28, 1925, Kate heard gunshots in the direction of the pond on her land. It was not an unusual incident, as duck hunters often frequented the area near the pond, despite the “No Hunting” signs Kate had staked around the pond on posts. Kate’s common practice was to saddle her horse and pack her .22 rifle after the gunshots ceased, and ride to the pond to collect the dead fowl left behind by the hunters. This day was no different.
After Kate saddled her horse and packed her rifle, Ernie, who was then 3, in front of her in the saddle and rode toward the pond. Leaving her son in the saddle Kate dismounted and tethered the horse to a bush about 40 feet from the pond. She grabbed her rifle and opened the gate to enter the pond area. At the gate, Kate saw a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike.
She shot it immediately.
Perhaps the report of firepower alerted the snakes in their nearby den. Three more emerged, slithering in Kate’s direction. Unflinching, Kate shot them all. Then, the rattlers began to appear from all directions.
Kate thought quickly. With no time to reload, she pulled the fence post from the ground and began beating and stabbing the slithering reptiles. The battle went on for an unbelievable two hours. During the horror, little Ernie’s cries must have been heartbreaking, but there was nothing Kate could do for her son but beat back the snake invasion.
(Excerpt) Read more at cowboystatedaily.com ...
Interesting story. Thank you for posting.
Fascinating. Thanks for posting
I thought the horse would run off with Ernie...
How many of us could handle such an existence? Great piece of Americana...
Thanks for posting.
What a cool story! Thanks for posting it for us. I read it all the way through — what an amazing tale of a resourceful woman.
I’m enjoying watching all of the “Death Valley Days” TV series (I’m up to Season 16 now) and just started watching “Tales of Wells Fargo.” I love stories of the development of the west.
My daughter and her boyfriend gave me a 60 or 70 year old book titled “Bonanza Railroads” which is all about the early short-line railroads in the west from about 1850 onward. The chapter I’m reading now is about the first San Francisco - San Jose, CA railroad. That rail line is still in use by CalTrain today between the two cities and is just one mile from me.
Completely opposite to the characteristics of rattlesnakes to attack in mass or even come one on one when not cornered. Sort of like Pecos Bill riding a Texas tornado in his story.
Water Moccasins?
You also might enjoy reading “Gunfighters, Highwaymen & Vigilantes -Violence on the Frontier” by Roger McGrath. The book examines violence on the Frontier of the late 1800s mainly in Bodie and Aurora in California and shows that much of the violence back then was in the big cities (like today) and not on the Frontier dispelling the common Wild West shootouts that so many site today as evidence of the root of American violence.
“…she made a feeble attempt to grab the horse’s reins. The startled horse kicked her and broke her collarbone.“
Whenever I’m bitching about some rotten luck I’ve encountered there is a fear at the back of my mind that when I die God is going to just sit back and play for me a video of the life of some Rattlesnake Kate of other …
At one time we killed animals that were/are dangerous to us.
Those who did were highly thought of.
Now we are expected to make room for them so they can live among us.
Those who kill the animals who can harm us.
Are prosecuted and persecuted.
It was spring. Snakes hibernate in big piles in caves to keep warm. When they emerge they disssipate. She just happened to be at one of their hibernation spots on the day they were all waking up.
I’d like to say you’re right, except that the article specifies it happened on Oct. 28. But by then they might have been going into hibernation, and the gunshots brought them out before they’d really gone asleep?
It’s an upside down world, evil is thought of as good and vice versa.
Back in 1966 I found a book at the Roswell NM Public Library on the old west. In it was an illustration of an outlaw gang, tracked down to their hideout and surrounded by a posse. The next morning they found all the robbers dead. They had built their cabin over a rattlesnake den and when they started up the stove to warm the house the rattlers emerged. I have spent quite a lot trying to find that book and illustration. Still can’t find it.
Thanks for the tip! Sounds like a good book. I’ve read a lot that says the same thing — the frontier was not as wild a place as it is often made out to be.
But the stories I’ve read about mining towns makes them sound pretty rough.
I asked Grok about the most violent towns in the west in the second half of the 19th century. The answer was predictable - Dodge City, Tombstone, Deadwood. A couple I had not heard of - Pioche, NV, a silver boom town and Fort Griffin, TX a cattle drive hub.
Interestingly, Grok said this: “...historian Roger McGrath notes only 45 killings across major cow towns from 1870–1875”
The book I mentioned says there was considerable competition among short-line railroads to reach the Comstock Lode in NV and there was intracompany violence. There was a lot of money to be made getting there first.
I just bought “Gunfighters, Highwaymen & Vigilantes -Violence on the Frontier” on eBay for $7. It’s $21 on Amazon.
The story of "The Brave Little Tailor" who kills seven with one blow of his hand.
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