St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-06-26
The Dog War.

The city of New York. population
1,00O,O0O, has enlisted in Il dog war;
The common council DEGREES death
against all mmuzzled dogs. and offers
80 cents IL head to have them brought
in. The gamins, of course, are not
slow to enter the vineyard of ripcming
dOghOOd thus thrown open to them.
They gobblcd dogs by the hundred.
They took them, us freely as if they
had lObbied charter through the Leg
islaturc, giving them the right of emf
ncnt domain. Dogs of obscure circum-
stances. tramps, and street scavengers,
dogs who had seen better times before
last September. torehanded dogs, mil
lionaire and high-tOned dogs. all were
swept in. The city, after keeping its
mcmagcrie on exhibition 50 many days.
giving owners opportunity to reclaim
their cattle, attempted to suttOcate the
dogs by the cord,-thc cubic cord. I'M
fortunately, not the hempcn. which is
reserved for humanity. The clods of
canine clay were packed in boxes. hold
ing the requisite number of cubic feet,
and the Partisan suicide was served to
them in carbOmic acid gas. The first
200 martyrs came out finely dead, but
upon being loaded into II cart in the
fresh air to he carried off. jumped over
the sides and ran off in the streets, bit
ing school children as they passed. to
he caught again ut 30 cents Il head.
The next caIt-load only required some
knocking down from the driver. and
the death dealing capacity of the ma
chine has been considerably improved
by battcning the cracks. The daily re-
ceipt of the victims is rapidly falling
off.
So far the dogs. but the battle is not
to the dogs alone. \ furious newspa-
per and political campaign RACES i'll the
atmosphere. The mayor and common
council are denounced for their tcrocity
and thcir ScrVility to an old woman :
superstition about dog-dayS. Henry
BcIgh comes out with very ugly man
ifcSto. warning these canicide> that the
charter of the city gives them no au-
thority for this direct contravention of
statute. and Recorder Ilackctt sum
mons the grand jury to look into the
matter. Even dog. it seems. has the
right of the writ of habea> corpus. and
the whole vast machinery of the En-
pirr state. as it had to he put in motion
put in motion to set him at liberty.
The journals discuss hydrophobia with
vigor and intensity. and make ont that
it is no more prevalent i'll the summer
than at other times. and that Il muZZlC
has about as much preventive effect as
pair of hand-cutfs or Il chain-and- ball
would have upon Il person liable to i'll
sanity.
At this moment. i'll the very culmin-
alton of the excitement. Il most tragic
event gives Il new seriousness to the
sanity relations of dogs and men. Mr..
Francis Butler of Peck slip. a noted
connoiSScur of dogs. author of Il book
upon them and Il man of culture in
lines culiou>ly remote from his hobby.
died on Tuesday night of hydr0phOi,ia.
Bitten. some six weeks ago. 10y Il dog
which had been brought To him for
treatment. he had paid no attention Ia
the wound and thought nothing OF il
until. ut his breakfast table on Monday
morning he was utterly unable to drink
his tea. and after repeated efforts WIS
seized with such convulSivc manitcSta-
tionS as to leave no doubt in his own
mind and that of li> horIur->tIickcn
family as to his impending doom. From
;hen up to his death or till nearly that
time. the course of the disease was
marked hy that terrible mania which
makes hydr"phohia one of the most
repul>ivc and horrible of all diseases.
Mr. Butler had always attributed hy-
drophohia to the Imagination ami would
not admit the danger of exposure. lie
took the same fond pIidc in the purity
of dog->tocl, and the raising of thorough
hrrdS that many men do i'll horses. He
was an Engli>hman aud of Superior
education. especially in the languages.
SpriHIfcid RcpHblicdn.