Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-07-20

OF THE CATCHERs.
From the New York Times, JulyG.
Yesterday was thefrst day set apart for the
destruction of unlicensed dogs in this city,
and great crowds were about the pound at
the foot of East Sixteenth street all day.
The pound is $50 by 40 feet; and it has
about 800 well built stalls, very much re-
sembling short church pcws on the outside,
not only in their general appearance, but in
their arrangement, being placed in aisles,
and single rows on the wall sides of the side
aisles. The place was Opered on Tuesday
morning, and was kept open on that day
and yesterday. There were 7j9 full-grown
dogs and % pups yesterday morning in the
pound, about half of the latter having been
born there since its opening. The keeper
is an experienced dog fancicr, and he Is re
quired by the society for the prevention of
cruelty to animals to keep all dogs As hours
for redemption, to feed and water them
twice day, and to allow no really valuable
dog to be destroyed. Officer George H.
Lambert of Mr.. Bergh's force was detailed
to ren All constantly at the place and see
that thes2 requirement were carried out
Twenty dogs were selected and retained out
of the whole lot yesterday, and the rest were
drowned. The destruction began at 7:40
O'Clock in the morning, and it took until
4:30 O'Clock in the afternoon to drown the
702 CANNES that were thus disposed of. A
large crate, seven feet long, iOur feet high
and five feet broad, made of iron bars set
three inches apart, was rolled Lp the aisles,
and the dogs, about As at a time. were
dropped into 1t through sliding top door;
the crate was then wheeled out to the wa
ter's edge, where 1t was attached To n crane,
elevated, swung and dropped into the river,
where it was kept submerged 10 minutes
then it was lifted up, emptied, and returned
for another load The carcasses were
disposed of to the rendering establishment
at the foot of Twenty-eighth street, where
it is said their hides have an average value
of 81 apiece. The dogs seemed to know
their fate, and most OF them sullenly sub
mitted to it :; but many crouched down des-
perately in their corners, and made a most
ieroeiOus and dangerous resistance, and it
required the utmost courage and dexteritv
on the part of the catchers to sccurc these
and get them into the crate, and steel "dog
forks" had to be often brought into use to
do it. There was one female with eight
puppies that was especially hard to handle,
and when she was finally got into the crate
with her litter, she actually forced the
other dogs within to crowd upon top of one
another and give her little family plenty of
room. While the dogs within the pound
were being drowned, the wagons of the dog
catchcrs were gathering outside with the
results of the days capture, and at i;30
o'clock there IL very full loads waiting for
delivery, averaging lj dogs to the wagon.
making total of G15 to be drowned on
Friday. The pound has not accommoda-
tions for any more, and ii the catchers make
much of "haul' to-day, it is intended to
drown all the worthless dogs without wait
ing the full Is hours required by law.
The dogs drowned yesterday were of the
very meanest kind, and most of them must
have been horrible nuisanees on the street
Several of them were literally raw all over
their bodies with the most loathsome forms
of mango, and the body of one of them was
perfectly rotten with cancers. The danger
Gus character Of the dogs destroyed Is shown
by the treatment the dog-catchers have suf-
fered. The Times reporter saw 46 of these
officials and their assistants who had been
severely bitten since Tuerday morning by
the dogs they had handled. The total num-
bcr of bites received by these 46 nen is o4O,
or little more than an average of five bites
apiece. But six of them received one Dite
each, and one these was clear through a
thumb one clear through the palm of the
left hand one clear through an under lip;
two of the others each had bad bites on the
stomach One who suffered from three
bites was also bitten clear through his right
cheek. Another got five ugly bites, three
of which where On his nose, one going all the
way through it. Another got dogs long
teeth entirely through the middle of his
wrist, besides one through a nOstrl and
another through his upper lip. Another
got his left calf bitten through, and three
places on the right hand badly torn by y
blood hound. Alanv Of the eatchers have
got four and five ugly bites each upon diff
icrent parts of their bodies several have
got six each three, seven one, eight; one,
II one; Is; three, Is, and two sixteen.
1t was reported at the pound that Rocky"
Moore. who hsd got 10 dangerous bites had
to be taken to Bellevue hospital. James
Mclaughlin, who received Ii bites, most of
them upon the right hand and arm, WASH
bad condition when seen by the reporter;
his arm was 50 swollen that he could no
longer button his shirt-sleeve, and the skin
of it was black as the leather of his shoes.
Upon investigation among these wounded
men, the reporter learned that the dog
which is the most vicious, doing far more
biting than all the others together, Is the
Spitz. of the 10 men seen who have been
bitten, 50 of them were bitten by Spitz
dogs, although the number of Spilz dogs
captured is very much smaller than the mum
Der OF any other species taken. OF the 2iO
bites reported. 200 are set down against the
Spitz dogs, or five to one, although among
the pounded CANNES the other dogs stand
about Is to one, in number against the