The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-12
THE BLOODHOUND"

As Virginia Editors know dlHl III lEedl
 Life
 That Weirdly quadruped known as the bloodhound is enjoying revival of mo- toriety these days, and rarely does one pick up a newspaper without seeing him mentioned. He figures in the pur- suit of many criminals, and recently was the subject of lengthy discussion ina North Carolina criminal court
 The editor of the Brunswick county Gazette" who evidently knows where of he speaks, has just published most interesting article on ''The Bloodhound as a Detective" He thinks it would be a good thing if every county owned couple of these dogs and kept them constantly ready for service. In his opinion they would greatly impress ha- bitual law breakers and act as deter rent of many crimes which otherwise would be committed.
 And, then speaking of the ability of dog to track criminals, the editor of the Gazette" says the bloodhound is not the only canine which can be util- ized in that way. He thinks any dog but preferably some kind of hound with keen scent" and ''cold nose" can acquire the accomplishment. And cer- tainly it would so appear from the man. ner in which sportsmen train thelr dogs.
 If the old saying, Give dog bad name and hang him. counts for aught, the bloodhound has long since lost caste. His sins, real or imagined, were pie tured in Uncle Toms Cabin" and from the day that mischievous book appeared until the present hour, the bloodhound has borne a liberal share of the odlum cast upon the south by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Only a few days ago, it was stated that an effort was being made by the ladies of Kentucky to secure leg islative action forbidding the presenta- iton of the dramatized version of 'un- ce Toms Cabin in the theaters or that state. What the outcome of the matter will be, we do not know--we hope 1t Will be dropped-but there is no denying the offensiveness of the story to southern reading people This, however, is by the way.
 The hounds now used on the peniten- tiary farm, although they are probably not representatives of pure strain, on more than one occasion have run down escaped convlcts and otherwise assist ed the officers in capturing fugitiVes,
 These dogs, if we mistake not-cef- tainly the first pack the state mad came from a North Carolina convict farm,
 The editor of the Brunswick Ga zatte" states that the animals now kept by the North Carolina officials are not bloodhounds, but the ordinary fox q tNreaI ltrH William Brodnax of Brunswick and the late Thomas Goode Tucker of Northampton county. N. c. We have no doubt he IS correct. There>s have been few real bloodhounds in thisacountry. Most ot those so called are big deer-hounds crossed on imported bloodhounds Of more or less pure strain.
 The northern papers, still clinglng to the hyperbole of Mrs. Stowe, snatch at every item which chronicles the move ments of the so-called southern plood- hound. He is a sweet morsel to them. He can always count on a prominent place in their headlines, If he IS men toned at all in the body of the story And vet the dog, as we know him, IS neither hideous nor ferocious. Certain lv the animals at the state farm are not such horrible creatures, They show no little affection for their keepers, but are all enthusiasm and eagerness when once put on the scent, and at the Wlnd uu probably would attack man fierce ly. The most amiable setter, however, | is as feverish and eager when he sees his master pick up gun.
 | At the end of trial chase at the Pen | itentiary farm, which we witnessed seV- eral months ago, the dogs did all they could to plant their fangs in convict. He had climbed tree, and was several | feet above them, but they spent some | time in their efforts to reach him. | Our own opinion of the bloodhound as detective of criminals is not so exal- | ted as that held by our Brunswick | friend. Too often he goes off on false scents, and sometimes he will cease the | chase of 8 murderer and pursue some Molly Cotton tail that springs up before him. But doubtless we shall be told that such dogs are of poor stock or else are badly trained We have heard, too, as an explanation of their failure, that it is seldom possible for their keepers to put them infallibly, upon the scent it is desired they shall pursue. unquestion- ably that is a difficulty; to get on the trail of an ingenious fugitive taxes the sagacity of all manner of detectives. 1 We conclude with the expression of our belief that bloodhounds are not so bloody as they are painted; and that as 1 "detectives'' they have records of as many failures as successes,-Richmond Dispatch.