The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1902-06-27
DOG POLICEMAN NAMED BUM.
He Goes Out on Patrol, Catches Bur-
glars and Has Many Friends.

New York Sun: The policemen all
like Bum, anyhow, and it is not re-
corded hat he has any enemies in the
precinct, except possibly some burglars
who have felt his teeth.
He arrived at the police station on
Eighty-eighth street, far over toward
the East river, one bitterly cold night
four winters ago. Captain Freers was
in command at the time, and he hap
pened TO be sitting beside Sergeant
Tom Reilly behind the desk. The street
door opened and a diminutive black
and-tan dog lodged in at the heels of
Roundsman Hawkins.
Here's a poor little bum almost
frozen to DEATH" said the roundsman.
Lets thaw him out"
Sure" said the captain; 'let him lie
down by the stove"
But Bum didn't like the stove. He
vas so benumbed by the cold that he
could hardly walk. He managed to
drag himself around behind the desk,
however, and curl up by Sergeant Reil-
ly's chair.
That was the beginning of their
friendship. Sergeant Reilly was his
favorite from the first, and has con
tinued so.
"He looked up at me in such an ap-
pealing way" said the sergeant, 81
could not help but pity the little crea-
turC."
Bum was not the spick-and-span-
looking dog then he is today. He was
small, scraggy and h~alf-starved. Ser
geant Reilly sent out and bought him
some meat and liver when he was
thawed out 1t was probably the first
square meal Bum had evr had. +,
His next acquisition Of fortune was
an old blanket to lie on upstairs in the
dormitory. The men all came to know
him soon. and his fortune prospered
correspondingly.
He made his home about the police
station and began to go about the pre-
cinct with the men when they went on
post. But he stuck to Sergeant Reilly
more than any of the rest, and ever
since that time they have ben accus-
toned to take long walks together.
The name Bum" stuck to him from
the remark made by Roundsman Haw-
kins the first night he came into the
house. Before long the policemen in
the house Clipped in and bought him a
handsome collar, inscribed Bum" and
also bearing regulation brass figures
"2S," used to indicate the number of
the precinct.
He is very fastidious about his meals
now, but he has friends about the pre-
cinct who give him anything he wants.
The night Waterman at the Astoria
ferry house has a plate Of cooked meat
or liver ready for him every night at
II o'clock. And Bum is usually on
hand. So between the policemen in
the house and his friends on the out
sid che fares pretty well.
He always turns out with the mid
night platoon and barks his approval as
the men march out.
The conductors on the Eighty-siXth
street crosstown horse cars all know
him, and he rides with them just like
a policeman in uniform. He has learn
ed the limits of the precincts from the
men on post, and has never been
known to go below Seventy-ninth street
OF above Ninety-siXth street.
He has the record also of having fas-
tened his teeth in the trousers of more
than one burglar or thief running to
escape arrest Bum always managed
to interest them until a policeman
could make the capture.
Altogether the men OF the Twenty
eight precinct think they have a pretty
intelligent dog.