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A Unique Snake Story

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Oct 25, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 43.

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A Unique Snake Story

By K. C. Russell

FROM the Buffalo (New York) Evening Times, of September 22 is the following:—
“Connecticut blue-laws make it a crime to shoot a snake on Sunday, and they also make it a crime to sell or to buy the recognized antidote for snake-bite.”
“Walking over his farm on the outskirts of this city last Sunday in search of a lost cow, Peter Zarcone, eighteen years old, took his shotgun with him for protection against snakes. Attacked by an adder while he was passing through a swamp, Zarcone shot and killed the reptile.”
“The report of his gun reached the ears of policemen sent out by the game wardens to watch for poachers, and they caused the young farmer’s arrest. When Zarcone was arraigned before Judge Howard H. Scott, he was fined ten dollars and costs.”
“The judge said he had no doubt from the nature of the evidence before him that the prisoner had used his gun only to protect himself against the snake, but the laws of the State made it a crime even to carry a gun in the open air on Sunday, and consequently he had no discretion under the law, and was obliged to punish him for carrying a weapon across the farm.”
The Chicago Israelite of September29, in commenting editorially upon this incident, says:—
“The fanaticism of the blue-laws in the State of Connecticut reminds one of the burning of the witches. It is a disgrace to this New England State to allow these outlandish laws to remain on the statute-books. Think of it in the twentieth century to convict a man for shooting a snake on Sunday, when that snake might have done him an injury! A man’s life ought to be of more value than a snake’s life, and more important, too, than the observance of Sunday. The people of Connecticut must not forget that they are living in the twentieth century. We do not burn witches today. We should not have a law on our statute-books that will punish a man for shooting a snake on Sunday when that snake might have done him an injury. The citizens of Connecticut should abrogate that law instanter.”
K. C. RUSSELL.