Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-11
THE ROWLING OF DOG.
4 SUPERSTITION DEMOLISHED BY
THE LOGIC OF COLD FACTS.
Figures Given by . Gentleman Who Has
Kept . Tab Of His Expericnccs-Cases
which Gave tho Lie to the Popular
Idea That It Foretclls Death.

Kept Tab Of His Experienccs-Cases
which Gave the Lie to the Popular
Idea That 1t Foretells Death.
There is a well-known resident Of the west
side who has q hobby for combating popu
lar superstitions and demolishing them with
tho logic OF cold, stern facts The other
night he was visiting q friend when the
conversation turned Oh the notion which is
entertained by great many people that the
Rowling or moaning Of dog located in or
near house where there is a serious case OF
sickness means death to the sufferer The
gentleman commended that the idea was
sheer nonsense, and proceeded to tell why:
Some years ago." he said, @my father
was taken dangerously iii, and for several
days his life was despaired Of Finally DR..
- manning prominent physician told
us one morning that the crisis would come
ut a certain hour the next night, and that
either immediate death or slow recovery
would ensue. In the yard of the
house adjoining there was New
foundland dog Of very quiet and
peaceable disposition, SO quiet, In fact, that
we seldom heard him l was detained down
town rather late on the night In question,
and when / reached home 1t was near the
hour that the physician had named As
turned the corner heard q succession Of
most unearthly howls, and when I got inside
the house l found all the women members of
the family in spasmA The bowls proceeded
from the dog next door, and nothing could
convince them but that the animal was a
foreteller Of death Well, the critical mo-
meES came and passed An hour later the
doctor had announced that father would
A l.<.,,% 10 i
its howlings. and all was quiet for the rest
of the night Since than have made this
superstition a study and kept tab Of my ex
periences and those of my friends in this
connection This il the result TO date:
THE TALE THE FIGURES TOLD.
When the bowling Of dogs was followed
by recovery of patient, seventeen cases"
when bowling was followed by death,
two"
1t SO happened that in the next house TO
the one in which this conversation took
place little baby was lying seriously i'll,
and only two hours before the doctor had
given it up In the yard Of the house first
referred to was an English setter, one of
the good-tempered kind that are strangers
to a whine. Just as the visitor had given
the result OF his investigation the animal
suddenly broke the silence with the most
pitiful bowls Its owner and his wife, both
adherents to tho superstition, glanced Stimuli
taneousiy Mt the clock. 1t marked tho hour
of 9
THE baby's dead, +" they calculated IN one
breath
The visitor looked across the room inquir-
ingiy, and explanations were in order. All
efforts to quiet the animal were fruitless,
and the bowling continued for some time
Then they as suddenly oeased The
visitor was positive that the babe
was now on the road to recovery, while his
host AMI the good wife were equally certain
that it had passed the boundaries OF a bet
ter world AL was anxious, but delicacay
forbade their trespassing n that hour on
what at least two were certain was be-
reaved family. Early next morning both
families were astir, and hearing his neigh
Dor moving in the garden tho gentleman
threw up the window and called out:
How is the baby"
Dead was the reply he expected In
stead of that the father looked up smilingly
and shoGted:
liver SO much better. decided change
for the best set in last night
"What timer
About O'Clock Just when your dog
WAS making such frightful noise"
Another stroke has been added on a Ger
tain page in the diary Of the tabkeepcr on
the dog superstition, and at the bottom of
the leaf is the legend, as to 2. The baby is
now out Of danger Chicago Herald