The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-06-28
A Peculiar S1cindLe,

A Peculiar sfCissdLe.
A Brooklyn paper says: Residents of
this city are every summer subjected to
! a peculiar and annoying swindle which
arises from the practices of killing dogs
in the street. The city ordinances pro-
vide that the police shall shoot every dog
found running at large without muzzle.
After the execution, the officer is re-
quired to report it at the station-house.
The occurrence is telegraphed to Police
Headquarters, and thence to the Fifth
Precinct in which the Office of the ofal
contractor is. In the telegram the place
where the defunct canine is lying is men
toned, and the contractors subordin ates
proceed to the spot indicated. Upon
reaching it they are often surprised to
find that the dog has disappeared.
Thinking thata mistake had been made,
the offal men return to the Office, but are
soon obliged to respond to another Motif
cation from the same or an adjoining
precinct, that a dead dog awaits removal.
Going in search of it, they again find
that it has disappeared. For long time
this unaccountable disappearance of
dogs was a mystery to the police, the
Sanitary officials and the offal contrac-
tors. 1t was finally solved by a sharp
patrolman, who one day saw two boys
dragging the carcass of bull pup down
the street by rope. Arriving in front
of handsome residence, they cut the
rope and allowed the body to remain
there for nearly an hour. They then rang
the door bell, requested to see the pro-
prietor of the house, and asked if the
people living there desired the removal
of the dog. The unsuspecting citizen of
course answered in the affirmative, and
the boys agreed to perform the service
for twenty-five cents. Upon receiving
the money: they again attached the rope
to the leg of the dog, repeated the opera
ton in the immediate neighborhood,
and soon afterward were arrested. The
petty and ludicrous fraud has been
carried on pretty extensively in the city,
and though the police keepa sharp look
out for the perpetrators, they conduct
their movements SO secretly, that they
always elude the vigilance of the au-
thorities, and succeed in securing quite
a profitable recompense for their trouble.
1t is largely owing to the antics of these
Juvenile swindlers, that the offal men ex-
perience great deal of difficulty in find
ing the dead animals as promptly as is
consistent with the health of the people.
The Champion Oyster Eater.
A curious case came before one of the
justices courts, in New York, few days
ago. A young Englishman being on a
carouse and comfortably full of beer,
brought up in an oyster saloon and de.
manded some raw On the half shell. The
man in attendance began to open the
bivalves and continued until the English.
man had swallowed fifty. At this point
the operator, being somewhat fatigued
mildly suggested to his customer that
perhaps his appetite was satisfied, but
the latter remarked, ooh! no; you keeT
on hopening hoysters, and Ill tell yor
, when to stop" The man resumed
+ operations, and in very short time
, another half hundred Blue Points hac
, followed their predecessors down tht
, throat Of the voracious Englishman. B,
this time the novel spectacle had &C
tracted a number of spectators, VIII,
watched with keen interest the action
of the young Britisher gorging himsel
: with oysters. When one hundred ha,
g been disposed of, the opener was com
|, PEELED to desist from sheer exhaustion
- and insinuated that his voracious Gus
e toner had had enough, but the latter
n appetite did not seem appeased, and h
l. still clamored for more oysters. Agai
It the opener resumed operations, and cor
It tinued until fifty more oysters had bee
It consumed, when, for the third time, h
y threw down the knife and swore terri
It BILE oath that not another oyster woul
a he open. The Englishman demande
is that he proceed, but he refused, decla
p ing that he would not be party to an
e. mans killing himself. At this the ma
If with the maw grew angry and swor
re that if he did not get all he wanted b
le wouldn't pay for what he had eater
v, Words ensued and then a fight. Tt
lg Englishman was arrested and taken [
of the station-house. The next mornir
It. when he was brought before the justi,
le and the facts related, the judge fined hi
a ten dollars, and as he walked mournfull
to back to his cell he was heard to muttel
"This is a blarsted fine country, where
n. feller can't get hall the hoysters he wan
ha without gettin' locked hup."
Ii A WHITE whale is an expensive pe