The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-03
WAYS OF 4 BLOODHOUND.
Good Temper and WatchfuIness
Commend Him to Notice.
From the LONDON Sketch.


From the London Sketch.
For stateliness of appearance no breed
of dog is comparable to the bloodhound,
while the stories attending it's unerring
pursuit of its quarry have furnished the
novelist with material of the most exciting
character. But it is a fiction to associate
the bloodhound with ferocity. He never
worries or mangles what he tracks down.
His vocation is to find, and to find only,
whether engag ed in pursuit of man or of
wounded deer. The bloodhound has fig
ured in history from time immemorial
and no breed of dogs has preserved its
characteristic points so persistently. The
high, pointed Uranium, the long, pendulous
ears, the ample dewlap the wrinkled
forehead, the overhanging eyeid-com-
monty called the sealing waX-may be
traced more or less in the Talbot hound,
in the modern foxhound the otterhound,
the basset, the French dachshund, and in
the Swedish beagle. which last is a mini
ture bloodhound, though of lighter build.
Instinct is so keen that he hunts the
clean shoe" as We'll if not better, than
when the foot of the fugitive has been
purposely fouled, and it is a pretty sight
to watch a trained hound following his
quarry over a fence, if the pursued has
gone that way, or under the rails If such
has been his course.
The training of bloodhounds has not been
very persistently followed of late years,
but there have been several important
trials at Boxmoor and at the Alexandra
palace, to wit. 1t is noteworthy to remark
that the trial at Boxmoor came off when
deep snow was on the ground, and that
while snow was actually falling the hounds
laid on were equally persistent in tracking
the quarry. A well-trained bloodhound
will follow for five miles, even after six
hours have elapsed since the fugitive
started. and although many other trails
may eavo rossed the track. But he is
frequently t fault over stone flags. 1t
was for this reason that the pursuit of
Jack the Ripper by bioodhounds, at one
time mooted, was after a trial discarded.
1t was the late Mr. j. Bells Countess
which served as a model to Landseer for
his bloodhound in a Dignity and Impu-
dence," and also for his Sleeping Blood
hound,' while the late Sir John Nillais
Cromwell figured in more than one of that
artists pictures. Other fine hounds have
been Lauth XII Hector II and Danger. The
bloodhound's aristocratic appearance, his
invariable good temper and his watchful-
ness commend him to social notice, while
the vulgar idea regarding his ferocity rem
ders him an invaluable companion for la
dies and children against the annoyance
incidental to the genus tramp.
The Count lie ConteuiX de Cantelen, in
his work Les Races des Chiens Courans
Francais." hanks back to the famous St.
Hubert hounds, black and white, as the
recognized progenitors of their breed. The
present day writer was particularly i'm
pressed by the strong bloodhound type
which characterized the packs of the
French hounds from various provinces ex-
hibited at the international show in Paris
in the year 1873 However, 1T will be more
interesting to leave speculative discussion
and come to the regions of fact In Bor-
derland history bioodhounds were COM
pulsorily maintained by each hamlet for
tracking the moss troopers after their
raids, and till comparatively lately the ru-
raj constabulary ir England employed
bloodhounds to trace sheep and poultry
stealers.