The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-18
FIERCE FIGHT WITH A DOG.
Man and Beast Engage in n Grim
Test of Endurance.
From the Chicago Times-Herald.

From the Chicago Times Herald
In the darkness of yesterday morning j.
r. Bird of 5129 Wabash avenue struggled
for half an hour for his life with a fero-
cious brindle bulldog trained by burglars
TO assist them in their operations. With
arms bitten until the flesh hung in folds
with fingers chewed and finger nails torn
from their sockets. his length measured
on the ground. Bird fought the apparently
unequal contest to finish. With his right
hand on the upper jaw and his left hand
on the lower, the brute weighing and
twisting with all its strength there came
a time when it seemed to the man the dog
would prove the master and lock his jaws
fatally in his throat.
1t was not quite O'Clock in the morning
when Mr.. Bird heard strange noises in MS
back yard He informed his wife he be-
lieved there were burglars trying to gain
an entrance to the house. He decided to
scare them off, despite his wfe's protests.
Revolver in hand, he started after the in
truders.
The head of the household stole quietly
down the back stairway. When he open
ed the kitchen door one of his own dogs
ran into the house. The other was bark
ing in the yard below.
Eird looked about carefully and saw no
enc. Suddenly, like a shot from a gun,
figure bounced at him, striking him win
a force that nearly felled nm TO the
ground He threw up his arm as a guard
for his face, and into it sunk the snarp
teeth of the bulldog, without Sro"l VI
sound of any sort.
As the dog loosed his grip BIRD causht
the animals lower jaw with one hand ana
held firmly to it. Finally he freed MS arm
and with his other hand took tight holu
of the upper Jaw. He was holding the
dog in the air Seeing this put MIN az
disadvantage Bird dropped to the grouhu'
falling as heavily as he could upon ths
animal There they lay, the dog struggling
and time and again getting his jaws to-
eether in shape to crunch the myers ana
hands of his combata over ana over
,hev rolled i'm the mad fight for mastery.
| First one on top, then the other
Wife Looks on HorrOr-Stricken.
I'm tho porcn above stood stricken
1,ifo and sister-n-law In the dim nght
hot, women thought they saw their loVeu
ono being foully murdered by burglars
Mrs Bird ran back into the house ana
disnatched her eldest son, lz-year-olu'
| 80 the Fiftieth street police station or
any place else for assistance Inc cnii-
dren and the s'ster-in-law peered INTO tne
darkness but still could near no SCUM
hTt the brushing and rolling around upon
the ground of the two contestants ~
| sasmed 10 them a certainty that Dru
,,.as dead for he did not answer their
calls. u.,,,ross Tho
brute had worried him so that MS strehs,h
was fast falling. AS the hot preath oi .ne
| animal came at short intervals IN us
tressed way, he felt that the ouliuos was
| olso weakening. There was but one thlns
| 10 do He fought the dog In dog lashIoh'
| He took the brute's nose III MS go"
,ianted his laws firmly and thereafter the
Sno lost strength rapidly. That was the
sesaon Rird did not answer the calls OF
T,,paIIv the result OF his little sons cries
! - aIarp, began to be shown to him. Sew
eraI Of the neighbors, clad only In their
! night clothing fastened to the scene arm
cd with revovers, rifles, shotguns ana an
manner of weapons When they saw
was brindle bulldog, not burglar they
sound a rope with which TO tie his legs.
IS,han no was securely bound Bird releas-
ed his hold.
Arms FrIghtfuIIy Lacernted.
-, Collins a next door neighbor, for
.,,na,oIv inst returned from a midnight
| al, attended the wounds which Bird sus-
lined Roth arms were bitten frightful-
a., from elbow to wrist, finger nails are
missing in their entirety. and the myers
and hands are gnawed and chewed IN
horrible manner. The doctor examined the
doe and pronounced him not mad. He was
taken TO the Fiftieth street station wnere
a few hours later, he virtually commit
TED suicide by hanging himself In his cell
with The rope with which he was tied.
The theory OF Capt. Madden and Mr.
Rird IS that the dog was trained by Dur
glars, When DR.. Collins left at midnight
he saw buggy standing behind the barn
ON the Bird premises. but thought MOTH
ing of the incident When he drove by IN
Michigan avenue at a point half DOCK
from the Bird homestead he saw two men
wing out in the open prairie, and one OF
them pulled his felt hat over his eyes as
the doctor drove by.
Possible Agent of burglars.
About the time Bird started TO look Tor
,he burglars, which he felt certain were
trying 10 modest him, policeman chased
a buggy answering the description OF that
aeon by Or. Collins. He thought the oe-
cupants. two men. looked suspicious. and
he ordered them 10 halt. Instead OF obey
tng they whipped their hoTe and drove
| North as rapidly as POSSIBLE. This was