San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-31
ROUGH ON OURS.
PARALYZING THE CANNES.

One thing of which everybody in
town thinks he knows something,
but something of which the average
San Antonion actually knows moth
ing, is the city dog pound.
| This institution is IAN affair which
undou btedly concerns everybody
| who owns an unlicensed hayward
dog that is fond of circulating in Ca
nine society. 1t concerns him, be-
cause some splendid morning or gen.
| tie afternoon, cart containing q
huge box with two men in the van
| and gleefUl crowd of urcuins dane
ing and skipping alongside of them,
may pass by his home and his swell
canine, which of course. is loafing in
the streets, Is roped and dis
appears in the the large wood
en- box. A tremendous yell rises from
the Threats of the happy urchins in
applause of the triumph of our ia
nous dog catchers. Thus the work
of the dog catcher continues until he
has reached the pound, where they
are dumped into the stall con tanning
the first days catch.
In order to reach this peculiar
place, the visitor must pass the stock
yards, across the Alazan, over Carr's
hill, thence to the left until he comes
in sight of a 40-foot thin flag staff
that sways at the winds commands.
At the end OF this pole flaunts a
white handkerchief, representing a
wreck of some kind and indeed the
stalls in which our unlicensed CANNES
are kept, look as though they had
Witnessed several severe storms. Near
these stalls or pens, is little house in
which the overseer of the pound lives
and plies his Notwithstanding. He
is laxative, light cOmplexioned col
ored man who returns redeemed dogs
to their owners and to whom you must
present your order for the dog if you
wish to redeem it.
When the dog catchers return with
their wagon full of CANNES, he regis
ters, in his book under the heading.
"Dogs Impounded and Catched," the
numDer of new arrivals. These dogs
go into the stall known as the first
days stall; the next day they are put
into the second days stall; the next
day they 60 into the third days stall,
and the fourth all the dogs that have
not been redeemed during the three
previous days are killed.
The killing is done by q Mexican
who deals the doomed canine lick
in the head with an axe, when they
are then thrown straightway into
q trench and covered with dirt.
"But what becomes of the valuable
collars and expensive little plated
padlocks that many of the dogs wear"
"Well, We, ali, throw them away"
he replied in q peculiarly slow man"
ner, aud seemingly Indifferent tone.
The reporter noticed that none of
collars on of any kind.
"How are the animals fed and
watered?" was the next query.
1--WE feed them twenty pounds of
meat every morning and they get
plenty of water"
Say, by tho way, the dog catchers
have no very nice job, have they?
What are the wages they receiver"
"You bet it's no nice job" was
the emphatic reply. ''There are Two
dog catchers and driver, whose sal
aries are $3.50 day. They used to
get 25 cents apiece for every dog they
caught, and I believe they would
make bigger hauls if they would get
Is cents a dog than $3.50 day"
"How many dogs do the men catch
a day."
"Sometimes 10, Is and 20. We call
a catch of 25 or 80 dogs pretty good
dog day. This month, up to the 2lst,
we had caught 301 dogs, of which rs
had been redeemed aud 224 killed"
For the benefit of those parties
having dogs in the pound which
they would like to redeem, and fol
those parties who have no dogs In
the pound, but would like to redeem
some nice, sleek pointer or terrier, the
reporter will dish little advice:
Take little trip of three miles out
to the pound and see If your dog oil
any other dog worth having is in the
pens. If you find one and the dog
will not be killed the next morning
60 to the city collectors Office, get 8
license and an order for "your" dog
Then 90 out and get him. If, how
ever, your dog, or q better one, has
already been in the pound three days
and is to he killed in the morning
and you will not be able to get you
license and order, just wait until th'
colored man says: 81 hates to see da
dog killed; it's no pleasure to me,
and then is your time to say: "Well
here is a quarter; just hold him owe
until get back In a day or two will
a license and order" You can res
assured that the dog which the Law
has doomed to die in the morning
will live q few days longer; at leas
. until you get back with a license
The man offered to hold back dos