The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-14
SOUTHERN BLooDHoUNDs.

some CharacterlSt1cS Of the Dogs
 Used in Pursuing Criminals in the
 South.
 From gentleman of Chicago I have received letter of inquiry. He wants to know if the bloodhound of the South, formerly used in the pursuit of fugitive slaves and now used to trail escaped criminals, is a dog that bays. The req son for the inquiry is found in his quotation from "Uncle Toms Cabin," wherein the deep mouthings of the bloodhounds upon the old mans track are mentioned. He suspects Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe of an anach- ronism. I suppose that the ladys knowledge of bloodhounds was not eX- tensive. I have found in my readings that novelists and other writers com init more solecisms about animals than about anything else. Not every man l or woman who puts pen to paper takes | the trouble to inform himself or herself | of the simplest facts in the lives and | habits of our brute companions.
 Doubtless Mrs. Stowe makes her bloodhounds bay hard upon Uncle | Toms trail because that was the proper dramatic thing to do. Doubt l less, too she had read many times of the paying of bloodhounds. In the l first canto of "The Lady of the Lake, Scott remarks that "the deepmouthed bloodhound's mellow bay resounded up | the rocky way" That was the English bloodhound. The English bloodhounds.
 or the bloodhound of the Continent for
 that matter, not only bays, but has a remarkably sonorous and beautiful voice. He "opens," as it is techni- | cally termed, upon a cold trail and
 keeps it up until the quarry is sighted
 or run down. He is of great size, with deep chest powerful shoulders, massive head, dropping jaws and long ears,
 a remarkably sagacious and affection ate animal, courageous, though not l especially savage, and one of the best friends man ever had. This hound Is known in the old prints as the "sleuth" | hound, or ''slot" hound, taken from the old "sleuth" or "slot"-otherwise l "trail"-of the deer. He is called the I bloodhound, not because he is particu- l larly fond of blood as matter of diet, but because, having once found the blood-trail of a wounded animal, he follows it with wonderful stanchness. He will, in fact, unless taken off by
 force, follow it until he drops, and
 rising will stagger along till he falls again. The only English bloodhounds I have ever seen, outside of few stroll ing Uncle Tom" theatrical companies,
 were kept merely as ornaments, and I do not think that they would have been
 of value in chasing the deer.
 ! The English bloodhound is not used
 in the South. That is where Mrs.
 Stoves error was made. The dog there is the Cuban bloodhound. He
 differs materially from his English
 cousin. He is larger, fiercer ana swift
 CT, with more of a bulldog cut about
 his head. He is probably a descendant
 of bull cross. He Is invariably mute
 until his quarry is sighted. Almost
 any dog will give tongue when he
 comes within view of the object of his
 pursuit after long chase. This dog
 is not snapper, as is the English He
 is pinning dog, which comes probably
 from his bull strain. Once his teeth are locked they can be disengaged
 only by the ingenious method o1
 grasping his nostrils and shutting of
 his breath.
 The first Cuban bloodhounds landed
 upon this continent were imported two : hundred years ago by Spanish planters of Louisiana, then Spanish territory
 We all know what the dons were
 about 1700. Negroes were cheaper tfer and if a slave gave trouble it did not :, much matter that the bloodhounds , hold upon his throat was broken only , by the tearing of the flesh and ten
 dons. Many times in those days tht fugitive negro did not live after hi,
 capture. If he succeeded in gaining {
 tree, olive-skinned masters shot hin
 out as they would a squirrel. If on tn,
 ground when caught the dogs killed : him, sometimes before the arrival O
 the horsemen who had ridden to be il 7 at the death.
 7 The Cuban hound was a valuable dog, and he was we'll treated In som,
 of the old court of Louisiana are bill of sale of him. In instances the pric, ran as high as $500 pair. The breed spread all through the South, althougl , | I have never heard of the dogs bein, 7 used as man hunters in upper tier o F Southern States. I doubt that on has ever been laid upon the trail of t negro in Virginia, North Carolina O 3 l Maryland.
 l As matter of course, the planter I | of this century were careful to protec s their slaves as far as possible iron
 attacks by the animals. This wa : | generally easy. The runaway slav l l invariably made for the swamp a
 the back of the plantation. It con t tained many streams and lagoons - which aided him in throwing the dog s off the scent If the worst came to tn
 worst he sould always climb tree l, have no doubt that the ancien :. anecdote of the coon which remarke
 to the man with the gun. Don d shoot, mister; I'm going to com f down." had it's origin in some runawa n hand perched in a cypress and gag |, ing down at his irate master, but pre- r serving always the negro's sense C f humor. Indeed. this story is loved an