Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-02-08
NAN AND DOG RACE ,
Officer Cassln Chased Animal Into Langley furnilure Store.

and ! mad dog made things inter-
 esting on Bank. Grand and South
 Main, streets for ten or fifteen min
 utss this morning, and while the caninal was finally rounded up and put o,t of business, 1t lived long snougl to come pretty near making one mlfe patient for the Pasteur fn- sutute. The oflcer was on lower Bank street when the dog trotted up from the direction of the Nauga- tuck station and started to snap and bite at1 everything and everybody that came In its way. The Ofhcer started after 1t, warning pedestrians to give 1t wide berth, which they did. but owing to the number of people on ths streets he didn't think 1t safe to use his revolver, but kept close to 1t up Bank street. down Grand into South Main street. It made several efforts to get into stores, but for tunatsly no door was open and see Ing itself cornered 1t turned into the alleyway in the rear of the Langley Furniture Co.'S store. This was just what the. ofiicer wanted and he was about to shoot at 1t when it banged against the rear door of the furni- ture store, which in some unknown manner happened to open, and the dog rolled into the store with the officer at its heels. The presence of the dog and the offlcer caused con- sternation. among the clerks and a lot of customers and for time even the proprietor felt that 1t was not good to be there. The dog kept out of reach of the oficer by running here and there through the spacious store room, but he finally got 1t un- der the stairway and put bullet into its side. Then 1t showed light and made a vicious charge at its as sailant. The oficer side stepped, but even at that the dog came near enough to him to leave some of the blood that was oozing from the wound in its side on the big glove that shielded his hand. Two or three more shots were fired at 1t. each talk ing effect, and finally 1t keeled over. At this juncture onicer Erricson, who had heard the shooting, appeared on the scene and also enptied one of the chambers of his revolver into the dying cur. A big crowd followed and when they. heard that the dog was no more they congratulated the off, cer on the clever manner in which he kept track of It's movements and his presence of mind in not discharging his shooting iron on the street.
 It Is an easy thing to kill dog, but the trouble now is that if you get nipped by a rabid cur you are down and out, and that Is what causes 50 much confusion. The ofhcer said he could have kicked 1t into insensibili- ty, but he didn't want to take any chances of colliding with its teeth, and in this he showed excellent judg- ment.
 A few more dogs were rounded up and killed to-day. The little pup re- ferred to in last nights Democrat found an owner in the person of some reader of the Democrat, who recog- nised 1t as his lost pet and ran all the way to the police station as soon as he got the tip in the paper. Some very nice dogs are being brought in and killed. and unless Superintendent Beach changes his mind 1t Is likely that the board of public safety will be asked to see if something cannot be done to train a few of the larger and more intelligent of the captives and have them perform police duty, just as dogs do in many countries of the old world, and as they used to do In Waterbury when the police de- partment was in It's infancy. Many remember the time when the police station had q very valuable dog that trotted close to the heels of the night men and saved them many a step. and there is no reason why the pres ent force could not be strengthened by training a dozen or more dogs to go around with the officers and nose through back yards and other dark places instead of having men risk their lives at that class of work. The dogs are there and if they can be made to serve some better purpose than converting them into ashes 1t would be economy to try them.