The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-02-24
ON THE NEGROES TRAIL.
HOUNDS ON THE SCENT AT A
GEORGIA CONVICT CAMP.
An Experiment Made as a Test-The
Dogs at the start-Following the
Scent Fifty Yards Away
The Chase Ended.

Mr.. Williams claimed and he was barI.e1
by Capt James, that any convict could be
selected out OF a hundred and sent OIL to
circle through the woods, passing through a
dozen squads Of convicts; that an hour after
he could put his hounds on that convicts
track and they would thread him through
the squads of convicts, never be shaken from
his individual track and finally bring him
up. | remarked that | could understand
how the hounds might carry convict's
track through a crowd of outsiders from
some scent OF the camp, but not how they
could separate one convict from another
There may be hundred convicts," he
said, clothed precisely alike, and wearing
precisely the same shoes They may feed
together on precisely the same food, AMI
sleep in hunks that touch each other under
precisely the same cover. And yet each Of
them has scent that marks him Just as dis
tinctly to my hounds from his fellows, as
ms appearance marks him under your de-
Gberate study
A gaunt convict, long of leg and flank,
was selected for the run He was told to
Put of quickly, circle in the woods, take q
swift run over fields, roads, and through
every squad Of convicts he could find in his
&ay. This he did The hounds were then
ioaiing about the stockade yard, as listle5s Il
lot ri dogs as ever were seen. Pm tempted
sa:,. Nj Williams, ito let the convict ride
morse for mile OF two after he has run
awhile. have had dogs trail a convict on
horseback four miles, and then take the
track where he jumped from the horse" By
tt:is time the flying convict was a sinai!
speck on the broad fields, and in moment
more had melted into the horizon and was
zone, as if, indeed, he had found that liberty
FOR which his soul painted and had gone as
the strong winged birds go when they van
ISL in the blue ether
THE HOUNDS AT THE START.
In an hour we mounted our horses. The
hounds were still loafing about in the sun
shine. Suddenly Mr. Williams, squaring
himself in his saddle, blew three quick, short
blasts on the cows horn that hung at his
side As if by magic, the hounds awaked
and charged at his saddle-eager, baying,
frantic. Niger he said sententiously.
Like the wind they were off, nose TO the
ground, tails up, circling like beagles.
Larger the circles grow, the hounds silent as
specters, eyes and nose eating the earth for
40 o'NA'A- ny viii pass oNCt tilV u tit no
of convict squads, but will open on the first
single track they find Ii it is the wrong
track we will simply sit still. They will run
it 100 yards or so, and, noting our silence,
will throw it off and search again. When
they get the right track, we will halloo and
start after the hound that has it. The others
vii join him, and the race is opened
At last a red hound careering like mad
across the held, halts suddenly, tumbles over
himself, faces about, noses the ground
eagerly, lifts his head, "A-a-o-o-o-w-u," and
| is off like an arrow from bowstring.
That's the track shouts Williams, and
after the bowling hound we go. The other
| dogs JOIN in pell neil at first, then each
hound true to the track, in full cry and al
| rafting gait. Away off to the left Capt.
James calls attention to moving speck
| against the sky That is the convict cir
| cling back to camp" he said. On the dogs
went, keen as the wind, inexorahle as fate,
following the track of the convict as true as
his own shadow Across the tracks of hun
dreds of Others, along high roads, over fields,
through herds of cattle, by other convicts,
| that smiled grimly as they passed, the
hounds went, holding the track of the flying
| tptlNi 1T hutiC ~ IltI DtcII iAlH a. liSlt do
thistle on the firm earth, but where it left
the tell-tale scent all the same Nothing
could shake them off-nothing check their
| furious rush.
THE SCENT FIFTY YARDS AWAY.
Now Wen see them wind his scent fifty
Yards away" said Williams, as We neared
patch of forest Close to this was a squad c.
conyicts. These We had sent through the
woods an hoursbefore We had made "trus-
ties walking singly, touch ever bush and
| tree. Then the convict We were trailing was
run through, making half circle, with at
| Least fifty yards radius. The hounds entered
the forest at a hustling pace, a small red dog
Leading. Suddenly the leader faltered for
| an instant, with nose in air, then burst
| @lth fierce cry TO The left ran ohhquely
| t'r full fifty yards, with head up, when
| he took upagain the track Of the convict, ana
| lowered his head to the ground He had sim
| ply made short cut across the semicircle,
| having caught scent of the convict on the
bushes more than 100 feet away | am aware
that this is incredible to those who had never
seen it. | can not explain what it is that
| the flying man, clad and shod as hundred
others, fed on the same food, chained daily
~ thc ann III tiiC Seihlt
hunks at nights, imparts to yielding twig
touched by his clothes so that it attracts a
hound fifty yards away But it certainly
| does just that.
| The last test was now coming. We
were moving toward squad of conyicts at
work in cotton field We had sent the
fugitive convict through the squad We
| had then made them walk in a double Circla
around him. They then crossed and re
| crossed his tracks, many of them wearing
exactly such shoes as he wore One hour
later the hounds struck this point There
| was not an instants pause, There was no
| deviation, 20 let up in the pace. Through
| the labyrinth Of tracks the hounds went, As
| swailowS through the air, huTrying ineNoi'a
! iiiy On the one track they had chosen.
| TaE END OF THE CHASE.
| Tie end was now near. The convict, hav-
iug run his race was seen leaning against a
tree and watching the hounds plunging
toward him. Won't he climb the tree"' I
asked. NO; the hounds are trained to sim
| piy bay the convicts when they come up
eith them. Otherwise the convicts would
| kill them BY this time the hounds had
| sighted him. They halted about twenty
| EafuS away iroih tile Tree against which he
stood and hayed him furiously Pretty mu-
SIC they made, and not deeper than | have
heard often and again undera postum tree
| Mr. Williams called them Off, and the con-
Wet came forward. "Dem puppies is dom
mighty well cap'n," he said, grinning, as
he lazily swing by on his way to the stock
| ade
These dogs are not bloodhounds doubt
if there is bloodhound in Georgia, though
/ two are reported near Gainesville, de
sasnded from pair owned by Col. JEFF
johnson i'll the days of slavery. The Old
town dogs are fox hounds of the Redbone
breed. trained for several generations to
hunt men, They are never tempted with
other gaine They are neither fierce nor
powerful, and are relied on solely to trail the
| convict and lead his pursllers to his lair