Margaret Tappen

Margaret Tappen
(Mrs. Walter Tappen)

The following newspaper article, hand-dated as being from the June 16, 1954, Times was found in a scrapbook owned by Town Historian Richard Schmal:

Snakes Alive! Lowell Wife a Top Clubwoman

LOWELL -- Mrs. Margaret Tappan, Lowell housewife, doesn't scare easily. Snakes she takes in her stride.

Friday, while hanging out the family wash, she was suddenly confronted by what neighbors and her husband later identified as a rattlesnake. Unhesitatingly, she snatched up a baseball bat lying nearby and clubbed the reptile unconscious with a single blow to its head.

The 58-year old woman then stuffed it into a bucket, clapped a cover on it and went ahead with her chores.

When her husband Walter returned home from his job in an East Chicago factory, he destroyed the three-foot snake, transferred it to a jar, and deposited it in the freezer, as a souvenir to show their grandchildren.

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Last updated on December 21, 2006.

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