New-York tribune., 1886-01-17
THE FUNcqI0y on The NEWARK DOG.


II is fast dawning upon the general conscious
ness that the Newark dog, OF which so much
has been heard during the last few weeks mas
been the victim of n misunderstanding Inc
fact that he emerged from his kennel one morn
ing TO find himself famous and that he has Deen
filing the trump of fame so full ever since thaC
there has been standing room only " In 1t Tor
any other Newark topic, has been referred, as
result of over hasty generalization, to hydro
pbobia. One of our neighbors down the street
whose startling romance of the escape of feroci-
ons wild beasts from their Central Park cages
is still Indignantly fresh in the public mind,
naturally lent itself to tho dissemination OF
this fictitious theory of the genesis OF the eXo-
dus of the Newark dog from Obscurity. DAY
after day desperate attempt was made TO per-
suade unthinking people with weak nerves that
this bea.t--not one of the escaped Central Park
beasts. but the Newark dog-was madder than
n dissipated March hare far gone in the jim
ioms and that he had bitten his fatal virus well
into the constitution of Patsey Reynolds ard OF
pretty much all the rest of the youthful pOpula-
ton of the city. To the end that this view OF
the Newark dog ght prevail, those engaged IN
promulgatlng it would not allow one OF Land
seer's pictures to fall from its nail III Newark
parlor without hysterically heraldlng the CIR
cumstance as another case of Newark dog De-
come dangerous and frantically calling npOL
the owner of the picture to shoot it at once or
else to send it to Pasteur for treatment. Nay,
more--so long as this fraudulent estimate OF
the Newark dog renamed at par, one could not
saunter along the streets OF Newark casually
whistlng "Old Dog Tray" without being re-
| garded by these frenzied persons rs engaged III
| a pestiferous act of sedltoD
Well. Patscy Reynolds and the rest have re-
turned from Paris, the Newark pulse mas re-
turned to its normal beat, and the Newark dog
| has returned to the shade of private life from
which he was so cruelty dragged. The attempt
| to establish his madness mas consplcnousIy
failed. and it is pretty well understood in canine
circles that the Newark dog is firmly convinced
that the animal that set the rumOr in motion was
either an Ass. Goose or Fox. Pasteurs labors
upon Patscy Reynolds and the rest viewed IN
| the LIGHT Of an effort to establish anything
is enough to make the Newark dog
laugh. There is nothing to prove that
tbe children that were bundled oil to France
were bitten by a mad dog; there is nothing to
prove that even ono Of the MANY poor dogs that
were done to death without mercy was mao {;
there is nothing to prove that the bitten New
ark children who remained at home are not rs
well ana as promising to-day ~ those who re-
ceiyed Parisan treatment. What has been
| nroycd Is the ease with which n temporary
white heat excitement can be produced when
sensation -mongcr- set to work To pander to
| ignorance credulity and cowardlce.
! The question remains, why did these scnsa-
tion-mongers strive so earnestly to dIscredit
! the Newark dog, to arm every mans hand
against one of the most faithful and inollcnsive
! of Gods four-footed creatures 7 Were they
| geese or asses or foxes We believe they
were foxes. They knew enough to know that
the scare which they were at pains to organize
WAS humbug but nevertheless II commended
| itself to them in the absence OF anything new
regarding the sea serpent, the mermaid. the
rcappearancc of George WashingtOns body
servant, the discovery of Captain kidds
| hidden treasures among the highlands OF tho
! Hudson. or the re-escapc of the wild beasts
from their cages. In their extremity tney made
n dead set at the Newark dog and invented n
! truly alarming case of hydrophObia for him. IL
was an outrage upon the dog, it was an I'M
measuraby greater outrage upon the peace oil
the community But the perpetrators were
not TO be deferred by such considerations. The
function of the Newark dog as tney chose tn
apprehcnd it was to suffer himself TO be worked
up into a thrilling story.
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