New York City 1930s
70 years ago in Missouri History...
Have you ever seen the Springfield city seal and wondered why there is a snake on it? The snake is a call back to an event that occurred seventy years ago. On August 15th, 1953 a Springfield resident killed a strange looking snake, which a local science teacher later determined to be a Indian cobra. Over the next few weeks, there would be more reports of cobras on the loose. Despite the heat, people shut themselves tightly indoors while groups would patrol through town armed primarily with hoes to hunt for cobras. They even affixed a speaker to a truck and played snake charmer music while they followed behind hoping to lure out the reclusive reptile. Ultimately eleven snakes were killed or caught, and by the first freeze in October everyone was able to breathe a little easier knowing the cobras would not survive the cold.
Exotic pet dealer Reo Mowrer was the prime suspect behind the released cobras, however in 1988 it was revealed that a 14 year old boy named Carl Barnett was the culprit. He had worked over the summer collecting black snakes for Mowrer in exchange for an exotic fish, but the fish died shortly after he got it home. When Mowrer refused to compensate him, Barnett decided to get even. He saw a crate of snakes which he had assumed were the black snakes he had caught and set them free, thus unwittingly starting a months-long scare that would be remembered in Springfield history for decades to come.
Image: A police officer holding one of the cobras caught in Springfield, Mo. in 1953. Courtesy of the History Museum on the Square, Springfield, Mo.