Rattlesnake Pete and The Great Depression
Lyle Sladek
No one knows for sure how a character frequently seen in our town came to acquire the moniker Rattlesnake Pete. Likely it came about as a result of a prowess for hunting out and capturing rattlesnakes that infest the river bluffs in the area.
The Midwest is the home of Rattlesnake Pete; it is not possible to assign a more definite address since he follows the carnivals and circuses that tour the region. But, for whatever reason, he shows up more frequently around Chamberlain, South Dakota, than any other town.
Should you chance to encounter him in your travels, Rattlesnake Pete will grab your attention. Expect to see a wizened man garbed in cowboy-type clothing, a tattered red bandana handkerchief about the neck, a shock of iron-grey hair hanging to the shoulders. Most of all, you will be drawn to the piercing, beady eyes that peer out at you from above a scraggly, white beard.
Tourists driving the Custer Battlefield Highway connecting Iowa and Montana frequently stop to eat a picnic lunch at the Chamberlain town park. Once food is on the table, Rattlesnake Pete sidles over and engages them in conversation.
Then he spins a Wild West yarn, letting on that he was one of the participants in this hair-raising adventure. Soon he has occupied a seat at the picnic table and the polite tourists from back East feel obliged to share their lunches. Some, taken in by a tale of woe, hand over their pocket change as well.
It is cigarette cadging, however, that Rattlesnake Pete has honed to perfection. Always carrying a Lucky Strike package containing one cigarette, he ambles up to a stranger, pulls out the package, and accidentally drops the cigarette on the sidewalk. Then, while squinting his eyes, he shakes the package as though hoping to find another smoke in it. The stranger, seeing that the package is empty, may feel compelled to offer a cigarette from his pack. Should this ploy fail, Rattlesnake Pete pretends to make a search through the pockets of his clothing, as though looking for another pack. This procedure seldom fails to arouse the sympathy of the person targeted. When this connivance has a successful ending, Rattlesnake Pete smokes the cadged cigarette and, once the stranger has moved along, retrieves the dropped cigarette. He is then ready for the next prospect.
Although some residents view Rattlesnake Pete as a public nuisance, others
appreciate the local color that he adds to our town. One thing for sure, Rattlesnake Pete would be missed should he fail to show up at the city park from time to time.
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