South Yorkshire Times June 20, 1959

Snake That Vanished

Thurnscoe miner, Mr. George Chandler, saw an adder in his greenhouse on Sunday, and thereby ended a seven days’search.

When his two nephews, Roy (17) and John Musgrave (16), who found the adder near Hickleton when they were out walking, asked if they could keep it in his greenhouse they believed it was a grass snake.

I had never seen an adder before.” Mr. Chandler of Albert Street, Thurnscoe, told a ” South Yorkshire Times ” reporter. ” I described the snake to a friend and he said he didn’t think it was a grass snake, but an adder. I fetched a policeman to collect it but when we entered the greenhouse the snake had disappeared. I’ve been very worried ever since and it was a relief when I found it on Sunday.

” My son, David, is only two and he goes into the greenhouse. I dread to think of what might have happened if the snake had bitten him.”

It took Mr. Chandler, a miner at Dearne Valley Colliery, 20 minutes to capture the snake which he finally imprisoned in a Wellington boot. During that time it tried to strike him three times. It was later transferred to a specially constructed box.