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 ...
1802, 84 killed and a creek was named after them. How he survived is beyond me.
https://www.timesgazette.com/2021/01/22/when-rattlesnakes-were-common/
Back in 1966 I found a book at the Roswell NM Public Library on the old west.
My late wife was born in February of 1966 in Roswell, NM.
“
The “Wild West” of the late 1800s was populated largely by Civil War veterans and sons of Civil War veterans. These were not shrinking violets who were going to put up with lawlessness without dealing with it. The helpless townspeople of a Rock Ridge (Blazing Saddles) and real Hollywood Westerns were largely a myth. People didn’t act up that much because they knew the kind of men who would be reacting.
When I was about 13 I was camping in the Hudson Valley in lower upstate New York when I spotted a copperhead just to my right about two feet away. I decided that if I moved he might catch me with a lunge. I decided to get him before he got me.
I was wearing heavy motorcycle boots and I jumped as high as I could to my right with my feet pressed together and crushed his head as he was lifting it up towards me. I immediately leaped back to my left and ran.
When I told my friends we went back and there he was splattered head and all.
Of course it was stupid to go back but 13 years aren’t very wide.
There is always a 12 ga. with bird shot.
My snakes are the worst! They’re hybrids. They are the dreaded rattle-headed-copper moccasins.
“Rattlers fear me.”
Lol - I’m envious! (I live in AZ.)
IIRC there was a Nevada town (Palisade?) that got a reputation as a violent town because the townsfolk staged gunfights in the street for the trains that passed through.
The Garden of the Gods is a popular hiking spot in Colorado Springs with trails going all over the place. Most of the hikers probably don’t realize that prairie rattlers are all over the place, usually just feet from the trails. They hear the buzz of the rattles but don’t connect the sound with snakes.
Back in the late 90's while on a pheasant hunting trip to NW Kansas, I spent a night in a room provided by an old lady, who at the time, was about 94 years old. Over coffee in the morning, we talked and she told me about her life living in that same house during the great dust bowl and how the house was originally built outside of town but towed in to it's permanent location by a mule train, pulling the house over logs......
When outside of town, her father drilled a well using a horse and pole, walking around and around until it hit water and on Fridays they would hop in their horse and buggy and ride into town for supplies.
Obviously the story is bogus and the picture of the snake hides was photo shopped.
Kudos to you for your eagle eye and revealing this story as a fake........./s
Sheesh!
Don’t you miss that certainty of the physical reaction, the confidence that it would all match what was in your mind and how it all processed and was done in a split second?
The old body doesn’t flow like that now.
Kate Slaughterback. Sometimes names befit character. But she was also was a nurse during World War II and served in the Pacific Theater. Besides her recorded extermination of snakes, was her independent nature. "Slaughterback married and divorced six times—one of her husbands was Jack Slaughterback.[1] She had one son, Ernie Adamson.[4]"
Rattle snakes are why we kept king snakes in our yard.
Thank you.
Last year I shot one with 11 buttons.
Thanks for finding the photos! She was an amazing artist! Look at those shoes. Gorgeous craftsmanship (craftswomanship?)
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