American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-04-15
The sagacity Of Dogs.


IA correspondent of the New York
EUenjNg Posi- at St.Johns, Newfound-
land, sends that paper the following !;
About an hour before. dawn on January
"a, father and three sons, named Par
fridge, set out on a wood-chopping ex-
petition from the town of Placentia,
Newfoundland, which lies west of st.
Johns. Such expeditions are made
with Esquimaux dogs, which are secure
~ harnassed to rude sledsS called tscatI
amarans," on account of their resem-
blance to the RATS which the South Sea
Islanders use and call, by, that name.
When, the men left their cabin the
weather was less frosty, than it had been
for several days before, and in every way
it seemed Favorable for the wood-cut-
tiers; but before eight O'Clock a terrific
snow storm was raging throughout
Placentia Bay, and at noon great banks
of snow drift had blocked the roads in
many directions. In such; circum-
stances there is extreme anxiety in the
homes Of persons who are absent out
ting wood in the forests, as the gloomy
records of many q winter tell of skele-
tons found beneath the snow in spring.
time-of men who had left their cabins
in fair weather several months before,
and were .overtaken by great snow
storms. ''ie fA54tE
When Monday evening came and the
woodsmen did not return, the wife and
mother. Of the absent men grew very So
'lieitous for the safety of their relatives
They. should have been at home-no
matter how bad the roads or heavy
their loads-at6 or o'clock Monday
evening, had nothing happened, But
the wild snow storm was still sweeping
over the bay, and there was every rea-
son to fear that the worst had befallep.
About dawn the. next morning Mrs.
Partridge and }. her; daughter were
aroused by the ahowling of dogs, who
paved the threshold and pounced upon
the door in a most vehement manner.
Mrs. Partridge at first rejoiced, believ-
ing that her husband ana sons had ar
rived. When the door was opened the
dogs would not enter, however, but
continued to whine and paw the ground
|simpafiently The old, woman then
went to the woodward to cali her hus-
band and boys; but the only answer
given was the, piteous' Whining and
yelping. Of the dogs. After a
while many Of the neighpors gathered
around the cabin, and most Of them
Knew too well the narrowing story that
the poor brutes, could tell had they. the
faculty of-speech.-The. dogs were I'M
fplacable; neither food snT5 caresses
| could quiet them. One old fisherman
said be WdAld test;the animal by mev-
tmgin thesdireetion of the woods. BE
had nc. sooner called them and started
| in that direction than they bounded past
him and led the way, looking back every
few PAGES to make sure that he was fol-
lowing. g Four young fs6ersaeni then
volunteered to follow the Dogs and were
led to the part of the, woods where the
men lay buried in the snow. s..,,,sss. a.,
Prodigious banks of snow piled on
the regular road made the way to the
| fatal spot eircuitous and difficult. On
| the side Of one mountain of drifted snow
four dogs were found yelping disnlaly
1 and digging the snow with their paws.
The volunteers went to work, and after
about two hours search with SNOW
4 shovels RECOVERED the bodies lof all the
! men, bdt too1ate to resuscitate them. s
This remarkable instance of sagacity
| and fidelity in the trained drad ght dogs
4 of Newfound Hand Is not without prece-
] dent. About four years ago a young
man ria left Hearts Content With one dog
and catamaran for the woods. It was
a windy day, and the man was killed
by the falling of tree which he had
been chopping. The dog being IN
harnessed, as all ,draught dogs are on
reaching the. woods, came home. alone
at night, refused food, and, gave the
usual dismal warnings, such as yelpingg
and paving the. ground. This animal g
also led the way to the. spot where his
masters corpse,lay resting s,s,if ia
sfssi- f33ff--------T--' TIT -7Essritrss Z
Mark Twain's Report of an Ac-
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