62 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
spent twelve years of his life as prosecuting attorney for the 
Waycross judicial circuit of the state of Georgia and is now 
serving as representative in Congress for the eighth district 
of Georgia. This should speak for itself: 
Douglas, Georgia 
May 27, 1940 
State of Georgia, County of Coffee: 
To Whom It May Concern: 
I am forty-seven years of age. Was born in Charlton Coun¬ 
ty, Georgia, within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp, and 
have lived an outdoor life practically all my years, and in ter¬ 
ritory heavily infested with the southern diamond-back rattle¬ 
snake. On many occasions I have been witness to their varied 
acts while in the wild state which indicate an intelligence and 
cunning which almost baffles human understanding. I consider 
the following incident to be very decidedly the most interesting 
observation I ever made: 
At the time spoken of above I was alone in the timbered 
lands. Being fatigued as the result of the long jaunt I had 
taken, I sat down to rest and remained on the spot much longer 
than I had anticipated, remaining quiet and practically motion¬ 
less all of the time. Finally my attention was attracted by a 
noise among the leaves and litter with which the spot was cov¬ 
ered. Looking in the direction from whence the disturbance 
came, to learn the cause of it, I discovered a female rattlesnake 
crawling along, directly towards me, accompanied by her 
family of thirteen little ones, scurrying here and there, com¬ 
pletely surrounding their mother. She was evidently surprised 
as I when she came suddenly to a realization of the fact that 
she was in the presence of a human being, her most deadly 
enemy. She lost no time sounding the necessary alarm for the 
benefit of her little ones. This happens to be the only point in 
this remarkable observation which I do not happen to recall 
definitely—just how she attracted the attention of her family 
of young, but as best as I recall, she pounded upon the ground 
with her nose several times. Then, resting her chin upon the 
ground, she opened her mouth wide, distending her throat to 
