Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-05-23
raasIse ruE WOLF.
Or. rAsseur's msifs P.rsrnss-sfsries
OF the Pe~ss sf rhe sseppes cf
Eus<ta spa ssbersn-

hr. fAsseur's msifk P.ffsnss-sfsries
OF the Pe~ss Of rhe sscppcs cf
Russia ssa ssbersH-
Mr.. John p. Jackson writes in the
New York World:
incubation rs . preventive OF hydro
phobia has received another setback
in the cabled report Of the deaths Of
some Of Pasteur's patients. The VIC
tins Of the dreaded disease we're Rus
sian mpjiks, who, with eighteen others,
bad been bitten on the LIST Of March
Jas; by mad I" wolves. DR.. Pasteur is
informed BY physicians from Russia that
bites from rabid wolves are very common
IN Russia, and that 95 per cent. Of those
bitten BY such brutes die Of hydropho-
bis. This is the first tine that the
world has heard anything about mad
wolves, ard proofs Of the assertions OF
the Russian physicians viii be awaited
with interest. At the inquest held
upon The body Of one Of the hspless
Dguks, however, an examination re-
y.sled the presence in the mans cheek
bone Of portion Of q decayed tooth
that undoubtedly belonged TO the vol
By which be had been bitten. Now, the
teeth Of most 1esh-eating animals are
poisonous, because unclean. A wolf
does not need to be mad for its bite to
produce death. Blood-poisOning is the
inevitable result Of wOlf-wounds when
neglected. or when the blood OF the
victim is in an impure state There
are hundreds and hundreds Of villages
in Russia where the entire population
Of peasants are afflicted with hereditary
disease. and on whom the bite OF any
wolf. mad or not mad, is liable to prove
fatal.
That wolves do attack the Russian
mujiks occasionally may be accepted as
The fact. In the present case we have
20 imagine that the wolves, driven by
hunger, attacked the live stock Of
Russian communal village, aud that the
nineteen mUjiks, including the priest,
received their wounds IN attempting
10 drive the brutes away from
their quarry. But thst the wolves
were mad is Questionable. They
were desperate and dangerous,
but that they had rabies has yet to be
proved. There are thousands Of peo-
Die who have been attacked by wolves
in Russia who have recovered without
showing any signs Of hydrophobia. The
peasants OF the interior districts OF
Russia have every winter TO defend
their stock from wolves, and some
/ times to defend their own lives. But
wolves DO not attack human beings as
. rule. and the Russian peasant IS not
particularly afraid Of them. True, he
/ NAV be attacked when coming home 70
his villsge on bis sled, but wolves can
generally get their booty al an easier
price than by attacking mujiks. The
artist, however, loves TO depict scenes
where a pack Of wolves is seen in full
pursuit after 8 sled full Of peasants.
The novelist Of Siberian exile life de-
lights in dealing with wolf stories, and
especially loves TO depict the peasant
urging his horses 10 their full gait and
his wife preparing TO throw the baby
out as sop TO the Infatuated
bIutes. There Is one picture that
Is well known, since it has been the
rounds Of the illustrated press Of the
world. II is the famous one by Schrey-
er. representing a Russian courier in q
sled drawn by six beautiful horses and
pursued by wolves. This picture IS a
reminiscence from the Russo-Turkish
war Of 1856. when the artist spent
long time in Wallachia. Hungary,
and Southern Russia, where he is said
10 have met the Russian courier whose
adventures formed the subject Of his
picture.
There is one thing, however. that
the artist has forgotten In drawing his
six magnificent horses. That is the
bells. These are q very necessary
thing in Russian or Siberian travel.
Their pleasant DECENTRALIZATION is heard
on your sled journey wherever you go.
listened TO them during q twenty
eight days journey across Siberia,
from Orenburg to Irkutsk, and again on
q fourteen days Journey Dorthward from
the CO pital Of Eastern Siberia to Yakutsk.
Their cess8tion, indeed, became as
startling as the sudden stoppsge Of the
machinery in 3 transatlantic steamer
is 10 the ocean voyager. 1t usually an-
rounced the fact that we had arrived al
some large town where the jlDgllrg Of
sleigh-bells is prohibited by the au-
thorities. On the steppes, where there
is but little need Of proclaiming your
coming TO the wintry wastes, one is sur
prised TO find that the bells generally
,irele the loudest. ! was surprised tc
learn, indeed, that the jingling has
It's USE. g. it Is generally as
sumed 10 frighten off the wolves. The
sound seems to inspire them with feal
OF caution, for the continuous sound o.
the bells certainly proclaims the fact
that al Is well with the traveller. And
IL al my journeyings, | must say that
! never heard Of yemshik being a.
tackled BY wolves while driving his SLED
from one stanzis to the other. In very
severe winters, however, the run from
post-ststion 10 post-station is not a.
ways completed without the eKcitemen
Of being chased by the ugly brutes.
During nv winter journey across ST.
IBERIA ! was somewhat disappointed a
seeing so few wolves. In my journey
Of 3, 600 miles across the steppes saw
only fourteen-eleven in one band, tw'
in another, and one solitary brute at
distance proving about on the ice o
the Yeneesei. But the sled is q grea
place wherein 10 brood wolf stories
When you are lying down under you
furs at night, and the sled passinl
quickly over the frozen roads, yol
imagine, If the weather is no
extremely cold, that you ca
hear the deep growing Of tn
wolves following your sled. Il tn
weather is terribly cold, you hear wha
you imagine TO be the short. quick yelp
Ing Of thousand farished brutes ate
you. il is . dreadful sound when yol
first bear il, but you soon learn Z