Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-09-04
CANINE HUNTERS OF MEN.
HOW AND WHERE THOSE "5LooD-
THIRSTY" ANIMALS ARE TRAINED.

rot the Ferocious BIoodhounds That
Romance Has Painted Them eng
lIsh Foxhounds Used in the Chase
for Conviets Some OF Their Char
acteristies,
In the Southern States hundreds of
criminals who would otherwise escape
are captured and brought to justice by
the aid Of keen scent. hounds. There
are plenty Of man hun Ing dogs in the
South to-day, but thy are not blood
hounds. The dogs taught to trail men,
instead of being fierce brutes that will
tear a man to pieces, are only ordinary
foxhounds Of such little courage that a
small boy or a pugnacious rat terrier
could put a whole pack of them to fight.
Some of the rich English gentlemen who
settled in Virginia be. re the Revolution
brought over with thom some pure
blooded foxhounds. W. these gentle
men and their sons and grandsons be-
came the owners of hundreds of slaves
they found 1t necessary to devise some
way to capture those who were con-
stantly running away. In this emer-
gency the idea of turning the keen scent
OF their foxhounds to valuable use oc-
ourred to them. Pups were taken away
from the kennels and never allowed TO
Join in the practice chase after fox skin
dragged through the fields by colored
boy.
Instead, they were taught to follow the
trail of the boy without the fox skin. In
this way they lear ed that the only game
they were expected to run to earth was
the runaway slave. These trained slave
hunters were found to be very valuable,
and the business of breeding and train
ing them grew until il extended all over
the slave holding States. The man hunt
ing dogs of to-day are descended from
these English foxh Iunds. They are small
and slender, with keen limbs and long
ears. In color theysrs mostly red, black,
and white, the three oelors being about
equally divided, Usually in small, but
sometim S in large s ots.
In most of the Southern States the
State and county convicts are leased or
hired to contractors fer various kinds of
work outside the walls of-the prisons.
The contractors are bound by heavy pen
alties to prevent their escape. AS they
are often moved from one place to an
other, the contractors can not afford the
expense of building strong prisons, so
trust to the watchfulness of guards to
prevent escapes, and keep a few trained
dogs to trail down the few prisoners who
do succeed In eluding the vigilance of
thsir keepers.
At the Pratt coal mines, near Birming-
ham, Ala, / 800 to 2,000 State convicts
are worked by the company operating
the mines. This company has the larg-
est and best trained pack of man hunt
ing dogs to be found in the United States
The big kennel is located near the wooden
prison, and reliable and experienced
man is paid large salary to devote his
entire time and attention to the care and
training Of the dogs. While they are
kept to hunt convicts only, the officers
Of the company never refuse to loan the
dogs to the local authorities to trail down
desperate criminals.
The method of training the dogs is
simple one, but they require constant
and careful attention. The most inn
portant part of their training is never
to allow them to run at large where
there is any chance for them to scent
four footed game. A convict who can
be trusted not to take advantage of the
temporary liberty is used in the process
of training. A number of pups are taken
out of the kennels with one or more old
dogs to lead them. The liberated con.
vict is then started off on run while the
pups are held back until he is out of
sight. Then they are released, and with
the old dog to find the trail and leao
them, they are off at ful cry. The
chase continues until the convict is tired
out.
He then stops, the pups come up with
him, followed by the keepers, and by
giving them some extra nice food they
are made to understand that they have
done their duty. This is kept up until
the pups are at least year old before
they are ever put in regular chase with
the old dogs. Every time they are taken
out for q trial run the start given the
convict is increased until the pups learn
to find and follow cold trail. A start
of three or four hours is successfully fol-
lowed up before the young dogs can be
depended on for real work. Any am
bilious young pup caught running of
on the trail of rabbit or other game is
at once called in and fiogged.
When dog 10 well trained he win
never under any circumstances follow
any except the human trail. Instead of
oeing fierce creatures taught to tear their
game to pieces, these dogs when they
overtaks q runaway simply run around
hiIn in circle, keeping at a safe distance
until the guards come up. As soon as the
prisoner is secured they lie down and take
40 further interest in the game they have
ssailed so persistently. Ne matter how