Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-07-01
A.Terrible Adventure with a Mad Dog.

ABOUT two months ago, while assisting
to rig out a vessel in the river a. man
named Peter Demery, living on Peterboro
street, in the nortern outskirts of the city,
struck rusty spike through the sole Of
his left foot, and mas ever since been laid
up by the accident, once narrowly escap-
ing an attack Of lockjaw. His family con-
sists of. wife and boy, the latter about ten
years old.a Sunday afternoon the mother
and boy went on s. visit to some friends
on Gratiot road, leaving the invalid lying
on bed that stood in a recess" of the
front room, In fact, there is but one
room in the house, the boy occupying a
lounge at night As Demeryy goes about
on o crutch, he had a heavy one lying on
the bed when the family went away. For
three years the family had owned a large
cur dog, of no particular value, but kept
around for the same reason that nine
tenths of the families in poor circum-
stances still feel that they, must keep a
worthless cur about to eat up. the srproyi-
sions that might otherwise be eaten by a
child. The dog wanted to go with the
boy but was driven back, and laid down
on the step. EDemery states that he had
read for about an hour, when his atten-
ton was attracted to the dog The
dIlIlial udu WdlhSu III db Gne open
door and stood in the center of
the room, utterings a. growing, wheel
ing noise. Demery,a thinking the dog
with the boy, ordered him to be quiet and
the bed, where he lay for a few minutes,
gmanifesting much uneasines. In the mean,
time the door was closed by a gust of wind,
nd o-,d hn do. IL,
After awhile the dog crawled from under
the bed and began running around the
room, growing and swapping at the chairs
contact. A@ad .lGa goa
Demery did not realize that he in
voked any danger in, speaking to the dog :;
he regarded the affair as arising from a
desire of the dog to get out and follow the
boy. So he, yelled sharply at the brute,
bidding, him lay down. = The dog, Just
then, had halted near the door, and
Demery was raised up on his elbow,
holding his cruteh in one hand, as he had
q notion to hobble over and open the
door. Hardly had he spoken, when the
dog bounded forward, giving a fearful
howl. Instinctively, the man extended
his crutch, which came in contact with
the dogs head, and he went rolling on
the floor. When he got up, it was to re-
sumo his race around the room, looking
more frightful than ever. Demery sprang
I,on. the back side of the bed, close to the
wall, holding his crutch ready for defence,
but hoping that the mad brute would not
again attack him. Il, ae r e "a l.
1t was now time when Demery might
expect his wife and child to return at any
lmoment, and it suddenly occurred to him
| that their return would only be to meet an
attack. from. the dog. : If they assembled
the steps and opened the door, as was en-
tirely natural, the dog would bite one or
| bOth.a. Theresawas no. longer room to
doubt that hewas rabid, and that his mad
ness was growing worse all the time. He
| might shout an alarm as they stood at the
door, but would they understand and heed
| it in time? Q7TaY FQq ov.s1hgg =
| 1t is but due to a sober, industrious
man to state that. in that moment of peril
to his family and to himself, he resolved
on deed that should go down on record
for future generations to- read. He re-
solved to make that mad brute attack
him, hoping in the struggle to deal him a
| death blow with the crutch. Carefully
| getting upon his knees, and securing a
firm hold of his crutch, Demery yelled
at the dog. The animal was tearing
around the room, snarling and clashing
his jaws together, and he stopped, looked
up for moment, and then sprang for the
bed. He just got his paws and head upon
i 1t, when down came the crutch, and he
rolled over and over. Three times was
this repeated, and the fourth time the
animal was stunned by the blow, and,
while he lay gasping upon the floor, the
crutch was broken in. pieces over his
head, and hewas afterwards finished off
with the axe. The man did not faint, nor
grow pale; he dragged the body out
doors and waited for his family, who came
in about half an hour, and then the car
cass was buried. He yesterday hobbled
down to the Central Station to see if he
had violated the ordinance by buryine
the body in his yard. 1t was there that
In modest, hesitating way, he gave the
above facts to our reporter. Detroit Free
Press, June 8.
II