The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-06
STREETS GIVEN OVER TO DOGS
GREAT FIGHT BETWEEN AN AMER
ICA1 BULLDOG AND NATIVE OURS.
Destruction OF City and It's Treasures
Due Far More to Boxers than to
the Allied Forces.

ton OF fighting and the pause granted US
hv the diplomats give busy newspaper
men time to really look about. we all be-
gin 10 realize the desolation that has come
upon Picking, the metropolis of China, the
capital Of the empire.
For hundreds of years this city has been
me OF the greatest and certainly the most
nnioue in the world. In its own classes of
ratification and architecture this old Chi
pese city was little short of marvellous.
For the same number OF hundreds of years
the great. queer old place had gone on
along the same lines. Never before had such
destruction and such panic visited here
as are now apparent. The streets, up to a
few months ago, fairly teemed with bust
ness. There was a greater number of mer-
chants here and more kinds of merchan-
disc displayed than anywhere else on the
globe.
Bankers, too, throve, for they directed.
here. the finances of almost a third of the
worlds population. Barter and negotia-
ton made the air fairly hum. Now all is
still. There are some bankers, of course. but
rather more merchants. yet whole sec
tons Of the city are practically abandoned.
Perhaps, now that the weather is becoming
COlus II - DtltcI ludl AHAo ShOuAU OG SOs
for shell and fire have done their work,
and Picking cannot shelter so many, by
some hundreds of thousands OF people, as
it once did.
One kind of population remains as great
as ever. 1 refer to the wild dogs, who roam
the streets as they always did. Ever since
the knowledge of the civilized world began
concerning this great yellow city the wild
dogs have been vastly more numerous than
even in the cur-infested city of CONSTANT
nOple. Great, gaunt, woIf-like animals run
about here, living on the most democratic
relations with all sorts of smaller and still
more cur-Iike CANNES. All these dogs are
great thieves. Hunger has often tempted
them to make half-hearted attacks on hui
man beings.
But the Peking cur is a great coward. He
never fights except when the odds are
greatly in his favor. Before the Boxer out
break missionaries and other white resi-
dents always went about carrying stout
canes as a means of defense against the
dogs.
Nowadays the soldiers nave a better
method of defense against these hungry
pests. Whenever a dog comes within
range the troopers raise their rifles and
shoot. But these dogs are as tricky as
foxes. The mere CLINT of a rifle they
can see blocks away. The sight is suf-
fcient to drive them to cover. Where they
go no man can say. but they vanish at
the first note OF alarm. A drove of these
wild. hungry beasts comes racing dow a
street. If a rifle is thrust through a win
dow and a shot is fired the entire drove
Immediately disappears. 1t may be hours
before the same drove is seen again.
VERY SHOCKING STORY.
Yet. when I speak of hungry dogs. it
would be best to qualify that statement
by saying that. in most cases. they are
hungry only on principle. Since the fall
of Picking many have fattened in the most
disgusting way. These animals have al
ways been tolerated in Picking for much
the same reason that they have been per-
mitted to flourish in Con%stantinople. They
are ~scavengers, and their instincts in this
line are not more refined than those of the
/ hyena. Ever since hunger, epidemic and
the quick tempers of the soldiers belong
Ing to the allied army began to pile up
the mortality record among the natives
these dogs have fed largely on human
flesh.
Atrocious as IL may seem. Cinnamon nave
grown to appreciate these ours more than
they ever did before. Dogs fattened from
scavensing make better meat. according
70 the native idea. than animals that are
slowly dying from hunger. 1t takes a
Chinaman to catch one of these dogs. The
yellow man will prepare a trap with all
the patience and cunning Of a small boy.
He will bait it and watch for hours. Some
prOwling cur comes around, shifts the bait
and makes for it. The beast is caught.
and inside Of an hour bangles from the
bamboo pole Of some itinerant peddler of
meat. The dogs eat the Chinese. Chinese
eat the dogs. 1t is a nauseating form of
indirect cannibaIism. but your yellow man
IS not particular.
Savage n hungry as these dogs are
and terocious as they would like to seem.
they are. like the Chinese themselves.
Neritabie towards. n hungry American
dog not above feasting on his own species
would ask nothing better than TO be turned
loose IN the streets OF Picking. He would
nave things all his own way and feast on
anything canine he saw and wanted. The
only American dogs here are a few that
came over with the troops. The other day
l saw a mascot OF this sort. a sleek, self
wiiied bulldog, fed on the best that the
company ratiOns offered. turn a street cor
ner and run plump into a pack of these
Wild Chinese dogs. In an instant the lot
sprang at him. Mr.. Bulldog had his bust
ness end at the fore. The first wild dog
10 reach him fell back on the dirt with the
spine bitten through near his neck. Other
nnimais flew at the mascot. It looked like
huch an unfair contest that 1 felt inclined
10 rush TO the rescue of my canine coun-
uyman- I am glad now that 1 didn't. for
by keeping IN the background I witnessed
some OF the best sport that ever ap-
pened.
The air was loud with mongreI veins and
growis. Mr.. Bulldog was doing a little
quiet talking himself, though his p,,tteral
remarks were audible for the distance of
only a few yards. Attacked by at least
fifty ours. he failed to retreat an inch.
Neither did he advance. The spot on which
ne was standing appeared to suit him per
iectiy. Every time a mongrel came within
reach he snapped at the unfortunate ami
nal. The click OF jaws was sometimes
audible over the growls and bowls. With
less odds against him this mascot might
nave seized seme Of his enemies by the
throat Under the circumstances he did