The St. Louis Republic., 1901-09-01

xhLf fCbLLC SPEClAIs
New York. Aug. 31.-A thoughtless swim
mer. In moment Of what he would prob
ably call sport, ruined the value of a 5000
dog and ended the usefulness of the great
est canine life-saver In the world.
The dog Is a great ST. Bernard, trained
from puppy days to spring into the water
at cry Of distress and swim with u life
preserver in his. mouth to the drowning
man, woman or child. The owner and
trainer Is Captain Thomas Clark. one of
Coney Islands best-known life savers. be-
ing commander of the Life-Saving Corps.
The Captain thus tells the story:
You see. 1t was this way" he said, seat
Ing himself beside one Of his huge st.
Bernards and drawing his big bronze arms
about the animals neck affectionately, II
have trained these dogs with the greatest
OF care. They know the cry of distress as
well as any human-perhaps better, for
they are taught to be ever alert like horses
in an engine-house.
other part Of the pavilion for a few mo-
ments. when some one came running to
summon me.
big. brawny scoundrel ducking my dog time
after time in the deep water. every time the
animal came up pushing him down again.
r. m the man had shreked out to the
ter had plunged in after him with a life
preserver in his mouth. When he cat to the
upon him with vicious deviltry and began
ducking him till the poor beast lay fiat and
helpless In the water.
Saving the Dog.
well. you may be sure that IL ever there
was fIry In my heart it WAS then
out q word landed straight from the
shoulder with all the force man can mus
put the fool out of the deviitry business.
but he soon struck out for the shore with
all speed. while dragged my poor dog out
Of the SURF and % up on the There
II thought that was one life ! was not
able to save. at any rate: bit finally sue
sSseea siesest dog in chriHtendo,n. but that @ was
not the worst. Do you know that mercf-
less scoundrel undid in three minutes all
the hard training Of years? After that
not be coaxed, baited or carried into the
surf. He is ruined, as far as life-saving is
esaa Nave Il fat as no had sesn killed outright
Il am still looking for that 'merciless jok-
er. When find him you may be sure that
.asss neat mornings @ papers. pa It makes dog worth
5000 to train him like that, and besides one
becomes go attached to an anima! that such
my other crime beneath the dignity Of
Dogs ~ Life Savers.
DOGS that are natural life-savers are
10 soa Ind one % Worth Ink Keeping % right % by v me at
all times. Some are even too sensitive to
cries of the bathers. and cannot di!feren-
Of % real distress. Only last month / had to
send away a fine dog who seemed to think
that every shrill cry was one OF suffering:
In u ne
dog, he managed to do it. People began
to think this sort of life-saving was monot-
had tn send the door fellow
away because OF his lack Of discrimination.
You observe there are many Things to
dog for this difficult work. One thing is
essential. and that is staying power Some
dogs swim easily-that one .yonder, for n
water. is capable Of a twenty mile swim un-
der ordinary. conditions, moving with per
feet ease and as much at home in the water
IS the ability to obey orders in the water
lust as well as on land: You see. 1t re-
ouires an animal Of extraordinary sagacity
10 serve well in this difficult capacity @ ana
The Captnin's Experience.
II began Mfe-saving by accident. AT At
,ans c,y soTf soe aSs ys1Sps Ssasd aso woman
for help. divested myself OF my outer
garments as quickly as | could. plunged IN
and began to grapple with the woman. My
she was a very large woman and a lad Oh
III. the manner in which she clawed me In
frantic efforts to be saved proved to me IN
the twinkling Of an eye that she was gcfng
down. and. moreover. was going to take
me with her. handled her rather roughly.
must admit. as much for her own saliva
tIon as my own. and brought her to shore
in a state OF semicollapss.
..My reward was unexpected. A thousand
dollars? Oh. no. Although she was
woman Of wealth and refinement. as soon
as she recovered she had me arrested for
assault It is needless to state. that as soon
as the trial came of l was acquitted with
honors, but my pride was piaued. and / re-
solved that the next time heard a woman
screaming for help as she was going down
for the last time / would scurry around for
q letter OF introduction and ask the privi-
iege Of escorting her to shore in true cotil-
lon style.
People Act Differently.
"But subsequent experience proved to me
that all people are not of this stamp, that
there we're rewards in Mfe-saving as a pre-
fession. and every man TO his taste went
in for the scientific methods and studied
those Of all the great life-savers Of the
coast. travelling much to that end. took
honors in swimming contests. and made my
self az much at home In the water as on
shore. more than: ever making q study of
human nature. -.
s.And right here let me state an axiom
Of the pfcfessionznamely.t that no two per-