Published in The Waukegan Daily Sun on 02/11/1898.
    Flagman A. J. Woods, stationed at Forsythe Junction, had a desperate encounter with a huge rattlesnake one night recently. Attracted by the flare of the watchman’s lantern, which was stationed upon the platform, the snake had crawled up and wound its large body around it. The west-bound train was nearly due, and in another instant Woods would have reached for his lantern and in all probability have been bitten. Two women, standing on the platform waiting for a Clayton car, happened to pass by and noticed the reptile coiled about the latern. They did not wait for developments, but screamed loudly and ran across the street car tracks in the face of an onrushing car.
    The watchman turned to the spot where the women had received such a fright, and noticed that a big snake had taken possession of his lantern. He contemplated it a moment, its little, beady eyes gleaming dangerously in the glow of the lanturn. Its head was raised in the air, and its rattle was going at a better keep-away-tune. Woods did not keep away. He needed that lanturn, and that mighty quick, for the whistle of the on-coming train had blown not more than a minute away. A long stick was near at hand. With this he made at the reptile and struck it a good, swift blow on the head. The blow was not hard enough, and the snake exhibited venom and a hissing tongue. Woods raised the stick for another blow, when the snake gave a leap and sprang through the air, carrying the lanturn in its coils. The train swept up. The engineer saw the signal and passed by. The snake had waved the lanturn in the nick of time. There was no reward for its work, however, as the flagman put an end to its existence a few seconds later,-St. Louis Republic.
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