The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-10
ABOUT nLoopHouNps.
The SIonEreIs of the south Not the
True blood stock.
From the New York Tribune.

True BLOOD stock.
From the New York Tribune.
The English bloodhound is in many re-
CARDS the most attractive dog that is
bred. and. Notwithstanding the race in
dog culture and the rage nowadays for
anything phenomenal in canine flesh of
either home or foreign origin, the blood
hound, with his inspiring facial charac-
teristics and nobility Of character and
kindness of disposition, preserves his
proud pre-emience, and stands unrivalled
on the pedestal of canine greatness as the
finest example of the dog breeders art.
Unlike most other varieties. there is a
peculiar and dignified grandeur and in
/ tensely sage severity in the phenomenal
! head properties OF the autocratic blood
/ hound. His calm ancient breeding and
! lordly association. His deeply wrinkled
| brow, his weary, mournful gaze suggest d
/ sphinx in meditation, calling back a long
| forgotten past. Though very much has
| been written about the history of this in
| teresting dog, his origin has not been
! clearly traced. Probably he is the product
/ OF cross between the st. Hubert hound,
an animal imported into England by the
| Normans who came with William the
/ COnQueror, and the talbot hunting dog
used by the Saxon mobiles before their over
| throw. This theory Is strengthened by
! the resemblance which exists even now be-
/ tween the St Hubert and the English
| bloodhound.
In the days when the armies Of the
world used bows and arrows this dog was
most valuable in warfare; later he was also
used to track fugitives and criminals.
/ This latter use was continued till late in
the last century. and to some extent even
/ ENnrrtanA hn oil ~stf.f,
! and the steam engine took his detective
/ occupation away. Since then he has been
1 bred chiefly as a companion, and the type
/ would have persisted entirely had it not
/ been that in some noble families a kindly
sentiment preserved the dogs and saved
| them from extinction Within the last
half century, and especially since the inau-
guration in England of bench shows for
dogs, careful attention has been given to
| reviving the interest in this wonderfully
/ sagacious family. 1t may be that some of
I these dogs were brought to this country in
the colonial days, and it may be also that
in the mongrels which are called blood
hounds in the southern states there may
be traces of this blood, but there are no
records to confirm such a superstition.
SO far as attainable records show there
We're no importations of the purely bred
| English bloodhound until 1883, when Ed
win Brough of Scarborough, England,
brought over several pairs and exhibited
them at the Westminster Kennel Club
show in Madison Square Garden. These
dogs were left with J. L. Winchel, now
president of the English Bloodhound Club
and from them and several more recent
importations made by him and by DR..
Longest of Boston, have sprung all of the
genuine bloodhounds in the western world.
There has grown 10 be a great demand for
these dogs and unprincipled dealers have
not scrupled to palm off any mongrel dog
,k.,e.
ers. A dog with a slight proportion of the
bloodhound blood in II is sure to be worth
less and Disappointing and is apt TO be
dangerous also. Such dogs. thought by
their owners to be bloodhounds, tend to
confirm the dsrepute under which these
animals already rest, and which they
never in the least deserved.
This disrepute, 1t may be remarked was
the outgrowth Of misrepresentation and
misstatement. together with a sentiment
that to hunt men with dogs was cruel
and barbarous. This sentiment was
created In the days when the cruelties of
negro slavery were much talked about
and was intensified by the dramatic rem
derings of Mrs. Stoves Uncle Tom $
Cabin" In the play the so-called blood
hounds which hy-the-way, were not ac-
tually introduced in the book at all. have
always been very important members
of the dramatis personae. For the stage
in this play IL seems to have been agreed
that dogs were required Of hideous and
ferocious appearance and therefore
neither the hound that Is used in the
south nor the English bloodhound would
at all answer the purpose. The acts of
these mongrels Off the stage have con-
tributed to the misrepresentation Of the
nature of the bloodhound and so the dis
repute has grown until the dog had the
worst kind OF bad name. Indeed the dis
I repute succeeded in receiving several
flf far-z~ Voc rsf ff,.- l.
legislature Of Massachusetts prohibited
the keeping of bloodhounds within the
Commonwealth. The moving cause of
this prohibitory legislation was the at
tack Of an Uncle Toms Cabin" mon
Erel on some children. AS a matter of
fact there had never been a genuine
bloodhound in the state until four years
after this law had been enacted When
the legislature was put in possession OF
the facts the law was repealed.