Bloomington (IN) Sunday Star, May 22, 1910, p. 8. NEW KIND OF NECKTIE Charles Cummings, a young Brown County farmer near Nashville, had a thrilling experience with a large black snake while plowing. He had seen his father take reptiles by the tails and jerk off their heads. While he was plowing he came across one five feet four inches long. Thinking he could do as his father, he caught it by the tail and whirled it over his head, but instead of the reptile's head flying off, it coiled around his neck. His father, who was working in the same field, saw the situation and hurried to him. The snake had strangled the boy until he was black in the face. The father pulled the snake from around his son's neck and jerked off its head.