The Rattlesnake Revenge

I had been retained by Mrs. Sharon to take her case. Bill, her son, had tried to get rid of her. When it became known around that I had taken Mrs. Sharon's case and bluffed her son Bill, I had plenty of small business. One day, just before the case was to come to trial, I was detained in court for hours. My office was left open, as usual. As I returned, we heard a terrible yell from the rooms above. Next moment Bill Sharon came rushing down the narrow stairs hatless, eyes starting from their sockets, and such a look of terror on his face as I never saw before or since. Two great rattlesnakes were hanging to him—one by the right wrist and the other by the right leg. He ran about a block and fell in the street, where the snakes let go and were killed. Bill had been bitten in three places. The only antidote suggested was whisky, and a good two quarts were poured down him without the slightest relief. In an hour he was dead. It did not take much head work to discover how it all came about. Bill wanted revenge on me, and his plan was to leave the rattlesnakes in my bedroom. In his haste to be gone he had been careless, and as the serpents were loosened they turned on him.