Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-01-19
aNEGRo HOUNDS,
Great Indignation in Virginia Upon
the Appearance OF the "Uncle Tom"
Dogs-The Drama Considered an In
suit to the people or the south.
Iynrbhur0 Va of

VI ASllll6 Ny tAC appCS4duCO VI AO-
bey's Uncle Toms Cabin company.
The princi pal cause of the excitement
and indignation appears to have been
the presence of FIVE big blood-hounds,
which, besides figuring In the drama,
were paraded through the streets each
day as an advertisement of the per
formance. When the company ar
rived here its fame-or rather the fame
of the blood-hounds used i'd chasing
the negroes-had preceded it and in
consequence the white population had
worked itself up into state of indig-
nation, and the management, upon
hearing of this. deemed it wise not to
have the performance in Lynchburg.
1t war whispered around that num-
Der of young men had decided to
break it up.
Az Uncle Toms Cabin has fire.
quently been played in Virginia thea
tiers before without causing this out
burst of indignation the Tribune CORE
spondent asked one of the leading citi-
zens what was
THE REASON
for it at this late day.
"Why, sir" was the reply from the
gentleman, who is and old and leading
citizen of the place, and had been
large Shareholder until the close of the
war, "what We object to is the use of
blood-hounds. 1t is an outrage and
gross misrepresentation of the south,
and should not be countenanced. It is
bad enough for this to be done at the
north, but to come here in our midst
and parade these blood hounds through
the streets, and at night have them in
our theaters following upon the track
of fugitive negroes, is simply insulting
US in our own houses"
"Do you mean to say that blood
hounds were not used for this purpose
in the SOUTH
Certainly, / d." replied the ex-
slave owner "but will not go so far
as that. I have never been farther
south than North Carolina. What
was done in the large cotton and sugar
states I am not prepared to say with
out authority, although l incline to
the belief that bloodhounds were never
used any where in the south for track
ing negroes. I do assert positively, O.
my own knowledge, that neither in
Virginia nor North Carolina were blood
hounds ever used for this purpose. l
knew nearly all the principal slave
owners in those two states, aud know
that they did not resort to such prac-
tees. l am nov an old man, and
HAVE NEVER SEEN A BLOODHOUND IN
VIRGINIA
Until | saw the four parading the
streets with Abbey's Company. The
South has been cruelty misrepresented
in this matter"
The speaker sc ems to have reflected
the sentiments of the citizens of the
other principal cities in Virginia. At
Richmond the Abbey Company, while
not experimenting any violence, met
with very cool reception. The COM
pany was booked for four nights and
played to empty benches. On the last
night they had twelve people in the
house. The papers opened fire upon
the bloodhound business, and kept it
up from first to last.
In Norfolk the bloodhound talk
was so great as to break up the per-
formance there. Following upon the
trail of the bloodhound question, the
correspondent interviewed two former
residents in the far South, one VINO
had been planter in the vicinity Of
Mobile, and the other a prominent
lawyer of Mississippi. eyes," said the
latter,
HOUNDS WERE USED"
In my state sometimes to trace up run
away negroes. Nobody in Mississippi
will deny that. They were dot blood
hounds. though, and in order to have
an opportunity to create an impression
which, despite the immen amount
of matter that has been written about
the south, has until now passed unno.
ticed, l am glad you have asked me the
question. The hounds used for the
purpose of tracing runaway slaves were
not bloodhounds, but negro hounds
You will be surprised and perhaps
shocked at the expression, but you will
understand why the name given was
especially appropriate. The negro
hound was the common hound trained
for the purpose of following anything,
even wagon. In fact, anything that
went over the ground. These hounds
were not used for hunting, but were
kept only for the purpose of tracing up
fugitive slaves. They were harmless
so far as biting was concerned,
and / am sure that no instance
can be cited of man having been bit
ten by them. When they caught up
with the slave they were trailing they
stopped, as he generally did also. If
he moved on they followed, and they
did not leave the trail until their mas
ter came up. He might have been
ten miles behind, but they kept on the
track of the fugitive, who, always real
izing that eccape was impossible, gen.
orally
EITHER TOOK TO TREE OR STOOD STILL
until his pursuers came up, and then
he surrendered. There was one way
in which the slave sometimes man.
aged to escape despite the hounds. 1t
was by supplying himself with basket
of meat cut in small pieces and tainted
with powerful poison. These scraps of
meat he dropped at intervals, and they
were eaten by the hounds with fatal
results, of course. This mode of es-
cape, however, was only successfully
followed where the pack of hounds
was small. Had planters been cruel
enough to use blood-hounds for tracing
slaves, motives of selfinterest alone
would have prevented them from
using these ferocious dogs for such a
purpose. Bloodhounds would have
torn the slave to pieces before the
driver arrived. Now, l want you to
understand that while am speaking
of these negro hounds do not mean
to convey the idea their use was gen.
eral. You asked me whether or not
blood-hounds were used in the south
to capture fugitive slaves, and replied
no, and proceeded, in the interest of
historical accuracy, to explain why the
wild reports abont negroes being torn
to pieces by bloodhounds had their
origin. / believe [ can safely assert
that no authentic instance can be cited
of negro in the south being torn to
pieces by hounds, or torn at ALL"
THE ALABAMA PLANTER
Made the same statement, ane went on
further to say II never saw blood
hound in my life. In my State, as in
other of the neighboring States. there
were here and there what were known
as NEGRO hunds," out they were rarely
kept. They were sometimes hired
out to planters. 1 am not sure that in
some instances they were not owned
hv frsa neoroes who hired them ont