Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1886-07-22

How NJ. Pastrur's Wolf-Bittcn fnssian
Patients Received Their Wounds.

FAl Al FEis
How NJ. Pastrur's wolf-Bitten Hnssiaa
Patients Received Their Wounds.
Russian papers publish the following
Interesting details of the wolf episode
that cost Mons. Pasteur three weeks of
hard work and the first professional
disappointment According TO cor
respondent OF the Novodi. the brute
that caused all the mischief was not a
wild wolf, but domesticated pet, per-
haps the most pettod quadrupcd in
Eastern Europe. Three years ago a
berry-picking boy found him in the
woods and brought him TO the village
Of Bioly, Government Of Smolensk.
where the farmer, stephen Wassiljew,
adopted him as companion TO mother
less puppy. Before the end of that
summer the whelp had superseded
bis foster brother. He had an ultra
canine talent for nunkeyism, and
fawned himself into the favor of so
many visitors that his owner was re-
pcatcdly offered thirty roubles for the
bushy-tailed little sycophant, that
licked the hands of every stranger and
romped with the village youngsters
and billy goats. One of the farmers
girls was his playmate. At the mere
sound of her voice he would start from
his couch at the heartstonc and scratch
and whine at the door till his girl
friend entered the kitchen. That
young lady was chiefly responsible for
the ensuing tragedy. On the 23d of
February Dushka --"Swcetheart," as
she called her pet-was bitten by &
suspicious cur, who forthwith died with
all the characteristic symptoms of hy-
drophobia, but when n dozen of his
canine victims were killed Miss Was
siljew intercedod for her pet. They
locked him up in a barn to await
developments. Early the next
morning, March 3, 1886, Dushka man
aged to break out, and in the course OF
that day not less than twenty-cight
persons were fiercely bitten, besides n
dozen or two who got off with snap
bites and torn clothes. At the very be-
ginning of the trouble the pluck Of one
heroic Mujik would have prevented all
further mischief if his companion had
not turned craven at the critical mo-
ment Peter Tcherkow, an ath-
letlo young villagcr, accompanied
by his sister and young
neighbor, was returning from an
nll-nIght dance, when they saw the
wolf coming down the road in sort OF
Sidclong trot and with an uncanny leer
that made them step aside to give the
traveller achance toleave the neighbor-
hood by the straightest route. But
Dushka had seen them, and in the
next moment made rush aud caught
Peter by the breast. "Save yourself.
Olga the brave Mujik cried to hi
sister, as he grappled with the wolf,
and then calling on his companion, he
clutched the brute round the neck and
wrenchcd his head down till he had
pinned him flat on the ground. At
that moment common pocket-knife
in the hands of . rcsolute man could
nave ended the affair, but the cowarl-
ly neighbOr had taken to his heels-to
protect the retreat of the girl, as he
atterward explained il, and Peter ;
struggle with the werewolf now be-
came duel for life and death. Too
soon the grip of his fingers relaxed.
and in spite Of his frantic efforts To
maintain his vantage the wolf got his
jaws free and began to use them with
terrible effect, when at last a teamst r
appeared on the scene and began to be-
labor the monster with long hatchet.
The volt then left his victim
and turned on the newcomer
and with two successive rips
tore his face nearly Off Minus his
cheeks, lips and nostrls. the unfortu-
maze man staggered out Of the way and
left the ogre at leisure to turn his at
tention to third adversary, the Mujik
Jackolen, whom Peters sister had in
the meantime summoned from the
farmstead. Jackolen, too. was terri
bly, mangled and had TO back out
toward the team, trying in vain to
cover his retreat with n club, but by
this time neighbors with fails and
axes came running up from all sides
and succeeded mt last in routing the
apparently indestructible monster.
But in the outskirts of the next village
the havoc recommended, and before
night nineteen persons, some of them
torn almost into pieces. were turned
over to the district hospital at
Semstow. The village priest Of Biely and
the gamc-keeper Niktin Garcewitch,
died on the following day from wounds
as desperate rs any treated in the field
hospitals of modern armies, for the pet
OF Biely had attained the size of the
largest specimens of his tribe. Two
more died in the course of the next
week, and three Of Mr.. Pasteur's pa
tients are now dead or on the point OF
dying. The Russians, as a nation, are
not much given to lynching, their ofli-
cial provisions for retributive justice
beng rather in excess OF demands but
at the mass meeting Of the Semstow
peasants the wretch whose cowardice
had cost the lives of so many braver
men was denounced in terms which
induced him to consult his safety by
disappearing under cover of the next
night. In Western Russia, where even
the urox has been permitted 20 sur
yive, wolves still infest all larger for
ests, and their whelps are caught and
tanned about as often as the fawns Of
our Southern Alleghanies. - Cincinnati
Enquirer.