, 1886-09-03
The WILD DAYS OF ATLANTA.
A Curious Result of the Late Civil war
-Ferooious Brutes at Large.

-Ferocious Brutes at Large.
Did you ever hear of the wild dogs oil
Atlanta? At one time the country around
here was almost at the mercy of these
savage animals. Horses, elephants. and
camels can be made to take an almost
human interest in war, but dogs can not
stand the racket. The din Of battle and
the smell of villainous saltpetre breaks
them up entirely.
Our dogs had a hard time during the
siege. There were thousands OF them in
those days, and when the season of short
rations set in they were the first to feel
it. In many instances they were aban-
doned by their refugeeing owners and
had to literally forage for a living.
The thunder of the big guns, the I'M
earthly shrieks of the shells, the noise of
falling buildings. the rattle of musketry.
and the heavy tramp of marching sol
diers, all struck terror to the canine o N
tingent. Toward the close of the siege
nearly every dog in the city was half
rabid OF in the last stage of nervous
prostration. The wretched brutes sought
shelter under houses and in bomb-proofs.
Majestic mastiffs and surly bull dogs
curled their tails between their legs and
yelped mournf,.lly at every unusual
sound. Hundreds of the holder ones
made a frantic break over the breast
works and bitches, and made their way
through the lines of both armies, never
stopping until they reached the woods.
1t was even worse after Sherman's
army entered the place. The citizens
xvara a RI van ont in a,,Ch a bunny thnf
they had no time to think of their pets,
and no means Of transportation for
them. Later, the destruction of the city
by fire, and the general pandemonium
that ensued, scattered the few remain-
ing dogs.
These innocent victims of the ravages
of war had a terrible experience during
the rigorous winter of 1S645. Their
misery drove them to form strange part
nerships, and it was a common sight to
see them rowing in bands of n dozen or
more. The old saying: Danish the
dog from his kennel and you have q
wolf" was illustrated in this case. In
the course of five or six months the
country people for fifty miles around
were spinning marvellous yarns about
"them wild dogs from Atlanta"
The dog belongs to the genus which
produces the wolf, the jackal, and the
fox. Tame dogs, of course, lose many
of the characteristics of these ami
mails, but when persecution and misery
cause them to relapse into a wild state
they take the appearance, the habits and
tastes of wolves and jackals. Such was
pnfnrio,ul.r tbn foot ,,-,.l. Al. kIo-.o
dogs. They lost every trace of domestic
ity. They grew to enormous size, with
savage eyes and cruel looking fangs.
Occasionally a gang of these ferocious
beasts would swoop down on a farm
yard, devouring chickens and pigs, and
attacking men when they stood in their
way. 1t took the liviest kind of hooting to
drive them off. Sometimes they would
surround a lonely cabin and wait for the
inmates TO come out. They even made
raids into little villages, forcing the in
habitants to shut themselves up in their
houses. The disappearance of many a
negro in those perilous times was fully
accounted for when his skeleton was
found with every particle Of flesh
gnawed off and with the ground around
showing evidences of a desperate strug-
gle.
Early in 1865. when q few refugees
began returning to Atlanta, they had to
struggle with these wild dogs for the
ruins. Bloody encounters occurred
among the ISL heaps and piles of debris.
Every cellar and hole in the ground held
these ravenous brutes, and they leaped
upon men, women and children without
the slightest p%rovocation. At that time
it was dangerous to ride or drive out in
the country. On the main road between
here and decatur, in broad daylight,
dogs were known to attack horses at
tached to buggies, forcing their drivers
to open n hot fusillade with their re-
volvers.
After getting this taste of n wild life
the Atlanta dogs went to the bad al
together. They never reformed. A re-
~lentless warfare was waged upon them
from Stone mountain to Kennesaw, and
one by one they bit the dust until they
were all wiped out. The reader at a dis
lance must not jump to the conclusion
that this ndiscriminate slaughter has
caused any unusual scarcity of dogs in
this region, Thanks to the universal
human weakness for pets, we are abund-
antly supplied with bench-legged fees,
terriers, pups, Observation-Disclosures, mas
titfs and bulls. If some unexpected
calamity should cause them all to go
wild. after the fashion of their prede-
cessors, they would be an uncommonly
tough crowd to deal with.-Atlanta
Constitution.