The Cross and The Canebrake

The Cross and The Canebrake

By Charles Shiver

Religion in most cases is a great balm for the soul in a world that may seem cruel, dark, and irrational at times. Still, people may take faith to terrible extremes that only result in bringing more pain and grief into the world.

Snake handling is one of the more bizarre mutations of Southern churchgoing and one of the frightening local legends I would like to learn more about.

Of course, venomous snakes, rattlesnakes in particular, have been a big part of our area’s mythology, lore, and even religious practices for centuries.

Thom. Kolesa wrote in the Turner County Diamond Jubilee publication (October 1980) that the Lower Creek Indians “believed that the Georgia rattlesnake would bring good luck if it entered a camp during games.” And there is the old superstition that a serpent can mesmerize or charm its prey into being still until the snake may strike with its deadly bite.

As I have mentioned, there are old folk remedies to save innocent victims from a a serpent’s venom.

A Page 3 article from the Tuesday, May 31, 1898, issue of The Valdosta Times reads:

“BITTEN BY A SNAKE.

“Boy’s Life Saved by a Young Lady’s Timely Aid.

“Cecil, Ga. (Saturday) – Luther, the little son of Mr. W.B. Lassiter, a farmer living about four miles northeast of Cecil, was bitten by a rattlesnake yesterday afternoon.

“The little fellow had been doing some kind of light work in the field, and becoming warm, stopped to rest in the shade of a tree, which had been left in the field for that purpose.

“Just as he was in the act of sitting down, the snake struck him on the left thigh just above the knee.

“The child ran to the house and explained what had happened to his sister, a young lady of 17 years, who showed great presence of mind in quickly applying the remedies to draw the poison. All other members of the family were away from home at the time.

“Miss Lassiter killed the snake, split it open with a knife, and applied it to the wound. As soon as it became cold, she caught a toad and applied it in the same way.

“These, with the aid of a bottle of spirits of turpentine, withdrew the poison from the wound and today, the little fellow is resting very well.”

I am NOT endorsing home remedies over antivenin in response to rattlesnake bites. I have no idea whether the bite was “dry” or not. All that information may be lost to the past.

(Thanks to Barbara Langley Smith for her research that found the article about Luther.)

Some say the snake-handling practice continues to thrive in certain rural areas. Followers of the movement believe literally in Mark 16: 17 – 18: “And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Not long ago, an area man died after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a backwoods church service. He refused modern medical treatment because he believed he would be saved miraculously. I can only recall what Jesus was quoted as saying in Luke 4:12: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

In case anyone doubts the deadliness of our native venomous snakes, especially in the old days when treatment was much harder to reach, consider this article from a May 1928 issue of The Adel News:

“Mrs. Frank Galligar Victim of Ugly Reptile Saturday.

“Nashville, Ga., May 28.—Mrs. Frank Galligar died this morning after being bitten yesterday by a huge rattlesnake which measured five and one-half feet in length, and had sixteen rattles.

“Mrs. Galligar, who lives a few miles from Nashville, was out near her home cutting poles with which to stick beans when the snake bit her twice.

“Rattlesnake serum was administered and physicians worked faithfully trying to save her life. The snake was killed and brought to Nashville where crowds viewed it throughout the day.”

In the early 1970s, former Berrien County Sheriff Walter Gaskins told a local newspaper about an incident in the mid-1960s when a pastor had been tried for murder after a snake bit a congregation member.

According to Gaskins, the snake-handling sect had a “wide number of followers” across the area. “The sheriff grimly told of other instances where ‘ignorant people’ had been fatally struck while handling snakes at rituals,” according to former Valdosta newsman E. Randall Floyd’s book Great Southern Mysteries.

The New Georgia Encyclopedia states that snake handlers in Alabama and Georgia trace their heritage to James Miller, a preacher who independently began the practice in 1912 in Sand Mountain, Alabama. The section of snake-handling churches that Miller founded is non-Trinitarian. The church members do not believe in the traditional Triune God (that is, “one God in three co-equal Persons,” the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). Those churches are broadly known as the Church of Lord Jesus with Signs Following. They handle rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, copperheads, and even cobras (imported from overseas) at the front of the church; speak in new tongues; handle fire (lighted torches); and/or engage in drinking poisons like strychnine, battery acid, or lye. They also believe the Holy Ghost grants them the power to heal the sick by laying on hands and perform exorcisms on demonically possessed persons.

James Miller’s movement spread into Berrien and Cook Counties by 1920 and continued to be very active in this area, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

From the Friday, July 15, 1938, issue of The Adel News:

“WOMAN DIED OF SNAKES BITES

“WAS TEST OF FAITH

“Mrs. Jeffie Smith Allowed Poisonous Snakes to Bite on Sunday

“Mrs. Jeffie Smith of Ray City died on Monday, it is stated, from the bite of a rattlesnake. It is reported that she had let a moccasin bite her also on Sunday east of Lenox in Berrien county where religious services were held and on Sunday night when it is said services were held at Ray City the rattlesnake was allowed to bite her three times. The moccasin also bit her several times, it is stated. Mrs. Smith belongs to a religious sect which allows snakes to bite them to test their faith, it is understood.

“Representative J.H. Swindle of Berrien county is credited with saying that the woman lived near him and that he had understood that she let the rattlesnake bite her three times after having been bitten by the moccasin several times also.

“It is stated that no medical attention was given Mrs. Smith after she became ill from the effects of the snake bite and she died as a result of the venom.

“It was announced that funeral services would be held on Wednesday at Brushy Creek church in this county.”

There seems to be some controversy about whether Mrs. Smith “let” the snakes bite her, or she was handling them as a test of faith during the services.

According to Find a Grave.com, Jeffie Mae Stanley Smith is buried in Brushy Creek Cemetery near Adel.

Strangely enough, I found this entry on Find a Grave.com on July 13, 2025, near the 87th anniversary of her death, as if I was meant to find the information and photo then.

According to the entry, Mrs. Smith was born on Sept. 9, 1907, in Barbour County, Ala. She passed away at the age of 30 on July 11, 1938.

According to a very detailed, and I would say a very loving, entry on Find A Grave.com, “Jeffie Stanley was born on Sept. 9, 1907, to Jim and Elizabeth Stanley in Barbour County, Alabama. She married Clarence Smith, the son of Henry Warren Smith, in 1922. Clarence would experience a heat stroke on July 18, 1933, leaving behind four children: Hubert Smith, Cleatrice Smith, Henry Warren ‘Buford’ Smith, and Bartow Cleveland ‘Johnny’ Smith.

“Jeffie would relocate to Ray City, Ga., with her extended family to settle in a homestead located at Walker’s Crossing, Ray City, Ga.

“Her untimely death came when bitten by both a rattlesnake and a moccasin on the same day. On Monday morning, July 11, 1938, Jeffie passed away in the home of a friend and was buried in the Brushy Creek Cemetery.

“She is a remembered as a strong woman and a woman of faith. Her children spoke well of her, and her legacy of faith is perpetuated throughout her grandchildren.”

Beginning in the 1940s, several Southern states including Georgia passed laws prohibiting snake handling in religious services.

Did you know the horrible incidents involving the death of Mrs. Smith and life-threatening injuries to a little girl in Adel, Ga., played a big part in the outlawing of snake handling, as well as the downfall of a local man whom many considered to be a very dangerous cult leader?

To Be Continued – Leitha Ann’s Story