Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-28

Charges against George B. Vacher,
city dog catcher which if proved will
indicate his unfitness and show he is
cruel beyond belief, were filed with the
city council yesterday The charges are
preceded by petition signed by eleven
prominent citizens asking that Vacher
be removed from office on the ground
Of his utter unfitness for the place.
These are the names of greater mag
nitude attached to the petition: Jaro
yon Schmidt, John S. Foster, Charles
Silent, Edward silent, w. A. Barker,
w. A. Garland, Mrs. S. ]. Whitmore,
Granville MacGowan, Arthur Let's, L.
70. GieSe and Robert Rowan.
With this petition are four typewrit-
ten pages of charges against the dog
catcher, all signed by witnesses of the
events. In these charges are allega-
tlons signed by men whose names usu-
ally carry weight, relating instances in
which the dog catcher and his deputies
foroibly took dogs licensed according to
the city ordinances and impounded
them. In several of these instances
licensed dogs were forcibly taken from
their owners who had them out for
airing. When these owners some of
them delicately nurtured women, dared
to Qremnnstrates they were fnsulted and
assaulted by the dog catcher or his
deputies
sold Dead Dogs to Pound
One witness signed his name to a
charge wherein he stated the dog
catcher had paid him for dead dogs and
puppies. On these dead dogs, it was
charged, the pound master had col
lected the full price he receives from
the city for killing dogs caught which
are not redeemed.
Vacher was not present to defend
himself against the charges, although
ho moi NJ FfGtd hn sRf a
council chamber until the discussion
was over.
Mrs. L. e. Giese, who has largely
taken on her own shoulders the work
of securing more humane methods at
the city pound, addressed the council,
declaring some of the deputies em-
ployed by Vacher were boys in knee
trousers. They wear the stars of dep
uty dog catchers and exercise the police
power vested in such deputy. These
deputies are required to take an oath
of Office, and Mrs. Giese pointed out ii
was manifestly improbable boys of
such tender years could understand
the nature of an oath.
Mrs. Giese asked the council to pass
an ordinance doing away with the
present system of dog catching, and in
the meantime suspend all operations
at the city pound
Favor New System
The council declared 1t impracticable
to suspend operations, as the dog
catcher's business is regulated by ord
nance, but they were practically unan-
imous in the opinion that some new
method should be adopted.
Acting Mayor Pease declared it was
unnecessary for the council to investi-
gate the charges against Vacher, but
it was necessary to adopt some new
method, and that speedily. A special
committee was appointed last week to
take up the question of dog catching,
ferred to that committee. 1t consists
of Councilmen Lyon. Dromgold and
Blanchard. Yesterday Acting Mayor
Pease was added to the committee.
The complexion of this committee is
a little uncertain. Of the members,
Dromgold and Pease are open advocates
of a new method of conducting the city
pound. They have expressed an opin-
ion in favor of the method now adopt
ed by practically all large cities of do
ing away with the official dog catcher
altogether and letting some humane
organization have charge of dog catch
ing. Under this method the owner of
q dog is arrested and fined for failure
to provide licenses for his animals, and
the organization receives certain per-
centage from the fines, the rest going
into the Golfers of the city. Where
there are no owners, good homes are
either found for the homeless dogs or
they are painlessly killed. All vicious
and manned animals are done away
with.
Blanchard and Lyon have formerly
been opponents of any system but the
present one, but recently Lyon has
expressed himself in favor of some
modification of the present system, but
Blanchard has had nothing to say