New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-07-10
THE DOOM OF THE DOGS.

dog laws in this city was attended by brutal and repu
sve features When the season of prescription set in
carts regularly driven through the streets ac-
companied by great strapping negroes armed with
bludgeons, TO beat out the life of any stray dog they
might encounter. II was then literally true that tie
blood of many victim sprinkled on our pave
ments and the wise precautionary measures against
hydrophObia frequently depored because Of these
public exhibitions of brutal butchery. The execution
of tie law by It's swartby administrators gave rise TO
endless complaints by gentlemen whose valuable dogs
had been ey snatched up and beaten to death, and
TO frequent fights with muscular owners, who de-
Tended their quadrupedal property "a ct arms.
Things got so bad at last that the perambulating dog
killers were suppressed, and Dog-Pound was estab-
lshed TO hch citizens invited To bring estrays
for execution at the bands Of the public officers 1T
enacted that after certain time-nsnay the 10Th
of June-no dog should be permitted 10 run IN the
public streets without being muzzled and led by SUIT
able cord or chain that any person binding DOG 80
running at large might seize him and deliver him a.
the Public Pound, receiving in recompense Tor HIS
trouble the cum of fifty cents for each and every dog
g. devered that the dogs SO brought on each day !"
the Pound should be kept until sunset, to give the
owners opportunity for redemption on payment OF
the sum of two dollars after which time ali that re-
manned We're 10 be slaughtered and the carcasses suit
ably disposed Of This rule, with slight notifications
has been force up TO the present time, having been
found 10 answer all the requirements OF the puohc
good But this buchery Of the dogs, although with
drawn from public view, lost none Of Its repulsNe
features by tie change and in fact the scene IN the
Pound after sunset in the highest degree revolving
The peous moaning, the desperate struggles and tue
d. ing groans of the animals with the brutal ferocy
of the executoners she spatter Of blood on the ground
and the three or four hundred carcasses lying In heaps
or singy about making scene which once witnessed
one would wish never 10 recall. II was not unul
several years had elapsed that our City Fathers be-
thought Them that dogs could to killed in other ways
than by the budgeon but finally, about live years ago
the present improved system was established Asth
matter is Of real public consequence, we make no
apology for imparting to readers the Information
gained from "a recent visit to the Dog-Pound.
The Pouild-if the name n not a misnomer-is an
old cana-barge, which lies in the East River at the
foot OF Twenty fifth street On approaching 1t the ear
il greeted with confused chorus Of barks, bays yeps
ana grDwls, which betoken the proximity OF dogs oi
assorted sizes and coors and remind Of fail
pack Of hounds giving tongue on fresh trail But GER
tanly distance lends enhaniment In tits instance, Tor
on stepping the deck OF tho floating prsonhouse tie
sensitive tympanum is panied with such u compound
yelp such grand consolidated h-yi, thst unless i'm
PEELED BY motives than pleasure seeking the yis-
Tor is Irompied 10 beat basiy retreat.
As yet one sees quadIupeds bus the canine chorus
comes the unexpofed cavern beneath bis feet and
leaves him uncertain whether three hundred yelps are
being uttered, or whether but one, from some great
brute whose terrible voice. like that Of Cerberus
Of Echdna and ryphon itself enough 10 shake The
sky. To resolve the riddle, the visitor explains his
bu,inets TO the obEssng Superintendent, who reads
bis paper and smokes hs cigar in the little "bouse ON
deck" and under bis guidance descends TO the bold
On landing below, whit sight greets the eyel And
the smellS too; ain they Of the dog, doggy In
this cayemOus apartment stand, lie, rear, OF s about
two hundred and fifty dogs, whose chief occupation
seems 10 be the vocferaion Of supposed wrongs aud
caInor for redress The sight Of the keeper and yiOrs
but ADDS their pulmonary vigor, and the grand con-
cert which was patty hushed as we descended the
stairs, is resumed with desperate ZEAL Not many
hghboTn dogs are in this assemblage for ct this time
OF year they are almost without exceptions
"MoDgr,l, puppy. wheiP and hound,
And eur Of lOS degree"
In size, they vary from the ponderous to the Pgmy,
and in color from tie shade Of charcoal 70 that OF snow
The brindes and CALLERS predominant, if anything and
waller dorg that the Professor kicked out Of school
Tie proportion Of large, NANCY asb-eart dogs Is great
as the Dutch ehifoniers accustomed TO bring their
worn-out curs to the pound and claim the two-shllng
reward. this being the price allowed by law. No
doubt they believe in the maxim, s." Look out e the
sbilngs and the pound will look out orseh" Next in
number 10 the ash-ca dogs are the little that yep
in low alleys and snar passerSby from dirty bowels
and shops Occasionally, in looking through the col
le, ton, one may find noble Newfoundland or mastii
that has been entced from home and coaxed down TO
the Pound but il is not often that they are TO be seen,
for an the bulk Of thedog business is done by boys ese
large SPECIMENS scarcely to them what Wemmick
would call portable property" Later in the season
say from Aug. IL TO Sept. l5-the metropolitan and
suburban stock Of poor dogs is pretty well run out ana
the boys are forced to steal good once retire from
business for the season. Consequently, the quality Of
the deliveries the Pound improves very much about
that time and the number Of Fiith-ayenne dowagers
ard Cordelias who come in search of their Fs Byoua
and Mu,taches is corespondngly greater
Tie hold Of the canal barge lie divided ongudinally
into four pens passsge-way being left down the mid
de- In these compartments the dogs are tied 70 rings,
enough space being allowed 10 each 10 move about
comfortably The place is well ventilated by grstings
in the deck and by the stern windows and stairway
but withal would be hardly fair 10 Say that, odoh
cay considered the place surpassed ALT then. Ii was
hardly to this floating palace that Horace referred, In
saying " Ubi grafton aura leniat rabiem CAMS" 81
though it cannot be denied that the cool breezes from
the water do mitigate the Summer heats. And we
have quoted Horaces alluson 10 the star whose per
ncious influence was supposed to madden the dogs, il
NAV he eli 10 remark in this connection that the pre-