The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-21
TIE TESTIMONY
 OF BLOODH0UNDS Courts Have Ruled in Its Favor if Witness Is First Qualified as Expert.
ISITBARBARIC CUSTOM?
Such Evidence Has Been Admitted in Four
 Southern States.

The ren1arka ble acuteness of scent with which the bloodhound is gifted and the intelligence and pertinacity with which it pursues a trail upon which it has been laid are qualities which have long been known, but the advent of the bloodhound as a witness in a court of law is a development comparatively modern. crime is committed, and the owner of blood hound brings the dog to the scene of the crime as soon thereafter as possi- ble. The hound apparently picks up a scent and follows it until 1t lands him at the door of some one, possibly al- ready under suspicion.
 This party is placed under arrest, and upon his trial the owner of the hound takes the stand as a witness for the State. He tells the jury of the ex- cellent stock from which his hound was taken and of the natural aptitude of the dog for tracking human beings He gives an outline of the training of the dog in the art of following human tracks, and in response to the ques- tioning of the prosecuting attorney re- cites the various successes with which the dog has met Then finally he states the facts in connection with the trail- i ing in the case on trial. In all of this ! the dog is the real witness. While the master gives testimony as to the past l record of the hound he is merely laying 1 the foundation for the dogs testimony as an expert. The dog qualities as an expert in much the same manner as an aienist, and when the master gives evil 1 dence of the trailing of the defendant from the place where the crime was l committed to his very front doorstep it is equivalent to a statement by the dog that, in his opinion, the defendant is | guilty of the crime charged
 The question of the admissibility of | evidence of this kind has been brought up in four States-Alabama, Ohio, North Carolina and Kentucky. When ever such evidence has been offered by the State in the trial of an alleged criminal it's admission has been object ed to on behalf of the defendant, but it has uniformly been held that where the dog in question is shown to have been properly trained the evidence is competent. #E
 The earliest instance which the writ CT has found of the acceptance of tes- timony as to the actions of a blood hound in criminal trial in this coun- try is found in the case of Hodge vs State, decided in November, 1892, and ! reported in 9S Ala 10. The defendant was there tried for the murder of one ! Rose stanback, who was shot and kill i ed upon the doorstep of her home. The evidence showed that number of nelghbors went to, the home of the de- ceased immediately after the shooting and saw shot holes in the doorstep which indicated the direction from which the hsot came. Near the rear of the house In the direction suggested by the location of the shot holes were found the tracks of a human being peculiar tracks and easily identified wherever seen. A bloodhound was put upon these tracks and trailed them di- rectly to the defendants house. The defendant was captured shortly after ward and had on the shoes that had apparently made the tracks. An objec- tion was interposed as to the admis- sion of the testimony in regard to the trailing, but it was overruled and or appeal it was held that the evidence as to the trailing was competent to sc to the jury for cossideration with the other evidence as Acircumstance tend ing to connect she defendant with the crime
 In the case of Hargrove vs. State
 which came up in the supreme court of Alabama, 41 So. Rep. 972, the de. fendant was found guilty on an indict. ment charging him with the crime ot burglary A witness who had trailed the defendant with his dogs testified that he twas in the business of run. ming bloodhounds and that his two dogs were trained to trail human beings One of the dogs had had four years training. The other was two years old and "had experience also" Tie wit ness said that these two dogs during a period of four years had tracked sixty