Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-09-10
THE WILD DAYS OF ATLANTA
A Curious Result OF the Late Civil Wa
-FerociouA Rrutes at Large.

hEute7 ~
Did you ever hear of the wild dogs Of
Atlanta: At one time the country around
here was almost at the mercy Of thest
savage animals. Horses. elephants, and
camels can he D,eae TO take ap almost
human interest IN war, but dogs can MOI
stand the racket. The din of battle anG
the smell Of villainous saltpetre break.
them up entirely.
Our dogs had 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 fee
it. In many instances they were aban
doned by their refugeeing owners and
had to literally forage for living.
The thunder of the big guns, the un-
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 con.
tingent. Toward the close of the siege
nearly every dog in the ~ty was hall
rabid or 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 mournfully at every unusual
sound. Hundreds of the bolder ones
made 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.
II was even worse after Shermans
army entered the place. The citizens
were driven out in such hurry that
they had no time to think of their pets,
and no means of transportation fol
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 terrible experience during
the rigorous winter of 1S6+5. Their
misery drove them to form strange part
nerships, and it was a common sight to
see them rowing in bands of dozen or
more. The old saying: "Banish the
dog from his kennel and you have a
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 10 relapse into a wild state
they take the appearance, the habits ano
tastes of wolves and jackals. Such was
notoriously the fact with the Atlanta
dogs. They lost every trace Of domestic.
ity. They grew to enormoas size, with
savage eyes and cruel looking fangs.
Occasionally gang of these ferocious
beasts would swoop down on a farm
yard, devouring chickens and pigs. and
attacking men when they stood in tleir
way. It took the hviest kind of hooting ro
drive them off. Sometimes they would
surround 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 desperate strug-
gle.
Early in 1855, when a few refugees
began returning to Atlanta, they had to
struggle with these wild dogs for the
ruins Bloody encounters occurred
among the ash 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 provocation. At that time
1t 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 a hot fusillade with their re-
volvers.
After getting this taste of a 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 dis
tance must not jump to the conclusion
that this indiscriminate 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-hgged fees,
terriers, pups, Newfs1ndlanders. mas
tiffs and bulls. II some unexpecteu
calamity should cause them all to 90
wild, after the fashion of their prede-
cessors, they would be an uncommonly
tough crowd to deal with.-Atlanta