The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-04-14
The Sagacity of Dogs.

A correspondent of the New York
Evening Post at st. Johns, Newfound-
land, sends that paper the following:
About an hour before dawn on January
"a, q father and three sons, named Par
fridge, set out on q 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
ly harnassed to rude sleds called "cat-
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
sno storm was raging throughout
Placentia Bay, and at Don 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 cut
ting wood in the forests, as the gloomy
records of many n 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 o
storms.
When Monday evening came and the
woodsmen did not return, the wife and
mother of the absent men grew very So
l~icitous for the safety of their relatives.
They should have been at home-no
matter how bad the roads or heavy
their loads-at 6 or Z 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 befallen.
About dawn the next morning Mrs.
Partridge and her daughter were
aroused by the bowling of dogs, who
paved the threshold and bounced upon
the door in a most vehement manner.
Mrs. Partridge at first rejoiced, believ-
ing that her husband and sons had ar
rived. When the door was opened the
dogs would not enter, however, but
continued to whine and paw the ground
impatiently. The old woman then
went to the woodward to call 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 neighbors gathered
around the cabin, and most of them
knew too we'll the narrowing story that
the poor brutes could tell had they the
faculty of speech. The dogs were i'm
~placable; neither food nor caresses
could quiet them. One old fisherman
said he would test the animals by mov-
ing in the direction of the woods. He
had no 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. -Four young fishermen then
volunteered to follow the dogs,a and were
led to the part of the woods where the
men lay buried in the snow.
Prodigious banks of n piled on
the regular road made the way to the
fatal spot circuitous and difficult. On
the side of one mountain of drifted snow
four dogs were found yelping dismally
and digging the now with their paws.
The volunteers went to work, and after
about two hours search with snow
shovels recovered the bodies of all the
men, but too late to resuscitate them.
This remarkable instance of sagacity
and fidelity in the trained draught dogs
of Newfoundland is not without prece-
dent. About four years ago q young
man left Hearts Content with one dog
and n catamaran for the woods. 1t was
a windy day, and the man was killed
by the falling of a tree which he had
been chopping. The dog being I'M
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 yelping
and paving the ground. This animal
also led the way to the spot where his
masters corpse lay resting.