The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-07-02
A RACE OF.,WILD DOGS.
They Roam Arkansas and Resem.
hle the Teme Species.

The AniE,Ols Said to Have Frequented .
Certain Locality for Twenty-Five Years
-souAs q Their Queer Char
astoristics.
The discovery has recently been
made that q species Of wild dogs exists
in this country, writes Eureka Springs
lark correspondent of the st. Louis
Globe Democrat. The fact that they
have been here for more than quarter
Of a century has been known to some
Of the old citizens, who seem to have
thought the matter of small impor-
tance, and consequently a valuable con-
tribution TO science and history is yet
to be published. Mr.. Jacob Everman,
q citizen Of this town, is the first man
to Investigate the matter and establish
the fact that these dogs are unlike any
breed of dogs known in this country.
Everman is an old woodsman and hunt
er and keeps pack of as fine fox
hounds as ever ''gave music to the
hunters horn" One morning recently
he went into the woods alone, and his
dogs not scenting a trail in the lo-
cality where foxes have always seemed
SO plentiful, he extended the hunt sew
eral miles further into the mountains
than usual When he reached the
headwaters of Clifty, in what is known
as Panther canyon, he heard the dogs
baying at something in the distance,
and, hurrying up to them, at the root Of
q large black oak tree he saw what he
supposed to be black wolf snarling and
swapping at them furiously, but as
soon as it saw him it wheeled and ran
off at great speed. He discovered that
it was not a wolf, but dog of some
kind He Missed and urged the dogs to
give it chase. and they started in pur-
suit, but, he thought, rather reluctant
ly, and returned after following short
distance. Looking into the hollow of
the tree, he found four small pups,
! probably about two weeks old, which
the mother had been defending so saw
agely.
Having no means Of taking them
with him, he returned the next day
prepared to carry them home, but when
he went to the tree again they were
gone. After considerable hunting his
dogs found them secreted in tree
some three hundred yards from the
hollow tree. He brought them home,
and they are growing finely under do
mestic care. These young dogs are
black, the hair being finer and more re-
sembling fur than that of the tame dog,
and their feet are like the feet Of cat;
their toe-nails turn under and are longer
and sharper than those Of the domes-
ticated dog.
Since the capture of these puppies
some of the old mountaineers who lived
here in ante-bellum days have been tell
ing what they know concerning these
wild dogs, and from the best authenti-
Gated accounts Everman can gather
they now number as many as twenty
and probably more, and are frequently
seen, but seldom more than three or
four together. There is tradition that
there were wild dogs in this vicinity
when the earliest white settlers came
here, but whether they were left by the
original occupants Of the country or
were as distinct wild species as those
found In South America, Australia and
the countries Of the far east no one pre-
tends to explain.
The country in which these dogs are
found Is one of the most inaccessible
regions in the state. It abounds In
high mountains, deep gulches and dense
thickets and Is seldom visited, and those
who do visit it are hunters and farmers
who have stock to stray into 1t. The
dogs have seldom been seen out Of this
particular locality in the daytime, but
Il is known that in late years they come
into the settlements at night and COM
NIT great depredations by killing the
sheep, hogs and other small animals be-
longing to the farmers. Several have
been killed from time to time by hunt
ers. Only on one occasion have they
been known to attack man. Many have
mistaken them for wolves, but the ex-
perienced woodsmen have always CON
tended that they were not wolves.
They are invariably black, and q black
wolf Is rarity insthis part Of the coun.
try. Then they are not so large as the
timber wolves, and do not seem &c
active In their movements They have
never been known to howl or make
much demonstration by barking. It ID
said that when discovered in some dense
thickat they usually utter kind of ter
rifed bark and make of at great speed
They show no inclination to affiliate
with the domestic dogs, and will fight
them with great courage. They are o'
medium size, having rather small heads
with small pointed ears, slender Limbs
and long, bushy tails. In some respect'
they look as though they might be al
lied to the EsquimaM dog. except tina
their hair Is not 80 long and the nos
not 20 small and fox-like. Then, Their
Is another peculiar feature about thes,
dogs They Garry their tails In hori
sontal position like the fox. while tn
Esquimau dog carries his caudal ap
pendaRe In short curve.
GA Hnlalons In Baussis.
Russia has Of late harbored more e<
centric and mysterious religious sect
than any otner country under the sur
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