The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-27

the way TO get at these people is too
meager TO cause an arrest. The cruelty
terminals law. under which he is now act
ing, reads as follows:
THAT whoever overdrives, overloads.
drives when overloaded, overworks, tor
lures, torments, depriveS of necessary SuS-
tenance, cruelty beats, mutilates or cruelty
kills, or causes or procures to be over
driven. overloaded. driven when overloaded,
overWOrked, tortured. tOrmented, deprived
OF necessary sustenance, cruelty beaten,
mutilated or cruelty killed, any animal;
and, whoever having the charge or custody
OF any animal, either as owner or otherwise,
inficts needless cruelty upon the same and
unnecessarily fails TO provide the same
with proper food drink, shelter or pro-
lection from the weather, shall be adjudged
guilty of a misdemeanor.
THE punishment for disobeying this law
is that the person shall not be fined more
than 800, to which may be added an i'm
prisonment for sixty days.
In this act nothing Is said about docking,
but there have been several attempts 10
convict people because il provides that no
animal shall be mutilated, the juries failed
to condemn, however, and II is for this
reason that 1t is desired the new law
should be drafted. Another law which In
spector Wilson is interested in is one TO
prevent people from clipping horses between
Oct. l and April 10. unless the certificate
of a veterinary surgeon, and II II is neces-
sary to clip a horse that he wear blanket
warm. Many citizens giving Mr.. Will
son their support in both of these meas
ures, and he is hopeful that he and the
Humane Society. who are working in con-
junction. will be able to secure the pas
sage.
BEST TRANSFERS CONSIDERABLE.
The last crusade that he and the society
carried against the high overhead
check rein, and both of them say that by
the aid which the Journal gave them at the
time they were very successful. There was
also much good done this last winter for the
horses that were not rough shod When
Inspector Wilson would find a horse not
shod he would order the driver to stop and
unhitch il and take ii to the blacksmith S
shop. There was a little grumbling at first.
but soon these drivers began to see the
enormity of driving unshod horses over the
slippery streets and complied with the or
der very readily. Inspector Wilson says
ii is not the regular transfers that give
him the most trouble because, a rule,
they are very humane toward their horses;
but it is the ash haulers. ragmen and ped
dlerS who own old horses that are only fit
for the bone yard. Very often these ami
mails have TO be killed because they are
not able TO do any kind of work.
In the humane work the police depart
ment as a whole has become interested,
and whenever district patrolman sees any
one mistreating horse he will at once ar
rest him warn him If he is ever caught
doing such a thing again he will be ar
rested. Inspector Wilson says the work of
the patrolmen is of great aid to him be-
cause the city has grown to such an extent
that IL is impossible for one man to watch
il as should be done
The experiences which humane inspec-
tor goes through are sometimes very ex-
asperating, at other times amusing and
often pathetic. The cause of il all is that
the average person has no conception of
what the duties of the humane officer are.
He knows that there is such a person and
that he can be found at police headquar-
ters. Recently the telephone of the desk
sergeant rang and upon his answering il
a feminine voice at the other end of the
telephone said
us the humane officer there?'
Upon being informed that he had just
left. she said:
''Well. l wish you would tell him to come
up here. giving the street and number
My neighbor has a cat and a number OF
kittens which are just covered with fieas y
"All right, answered the sergeant, 81
will send the inspector right up and I will
guarantee that he will catch each one OF
the fleas''
This incident is not as bad as one that
happened recently, when woman tele-
phoned in that she wanted the humane
officer. Inspector Wilson was called and
she told him that there was young mar
| ried couple stopping at her house. that the
wife had been taken suddenly ill and that
the husband was out on a spree and she
wanted him to. go and find him. Wilson
could not see just where the humane in
spector came In on that, and told her she
| had got the wrong man.
The inspector, however, since then, has
around the police station, been known as
doctor Thus it is that many times he Is
called and mistaken identity plays an i'm
portant part for he is taken for the Officer
of the Charity Board and of the Board OF
| Chidren's Guardians. Another class OF
people who send reports of all kinds are
| those who are seeking revenge. Anyone
who has a spite against his neighbor an6
| the neighbor happens to own a horse OIL
| dog. will always report that this person 1:
! infiicting cruelty on the animal and want
| the case investigated. The inspector says
| that he has great many calls of this kline
and that they cause him no end of trouble
| The officers of the Indiana Humane So
ciety are Horace Mckay, president, A. G.
| Elster secretary, and r. w. Coffin, treas
! urer.