Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-10-08
DEVIL DOCS OF LABRADOR

DIBk DVOS VI SHOn"DS"0
The .desolate coast OF Labrador,
500 miles from Belle Isle to Hudson
Strait, peopled by 1000 whites and
I 500 Eskimos. and frequented every
summer by 10000 Newfoundland fish
er folks In quest OF cod. IL without
roads or bridges on land, charts,
lights or beacons by sea. and even
now travel Is by boat in summer and
by dog teams in winter across the
SLOW clad wastes.
The dogs employed for this pur-
nose are SO savage and intractabie
that they are known as the devil
dogs" and terrible are the tales OF
their ferocity. They are largely OF
wolf breed. and often attack. ana
sometimes kill and icyour human De-
inss. Grenfell declares that every
season one half Of his pack will eat
| the other. and only a few months ago
| he came near being q victim to them
himself.
James Humty. aged IS. living near
Battle Harbor started for the forest
| for firewood with some neighbors,
each driving his own tcum. Humbys
dogs we're known to DO vicious, ana
he usually took q helper, but this
time he went alone. The teams were
some distance apart, and suddenly ne
was heard shouting: the other men
hurrying to him found him down ana
1.-The brutes tearing at him viciousiy.
It is supposed they fell to lighting and
he, trying to untangle their traces,
tell among them and became q VIC
tim. He made grim fight. though
killing two and wounding Ave with
his axe, but they ended his life. anu
| It took the united efforts OF all the
men to drive them off and recover the
mutilated body. -
Nearly every settlement has its tale
1 of the dogs viciousness. Some years
| ago q pack nearly killed Nurse VIII
| Iians. OF tho Grenfeil Hospital. she
fell, and they made for her, and but
| for the lucky arrival Of man wath an
axe the affair might have ended fatal
IIy. The same summer at Hebron dogs
killed and half ate an Eskimo boy OF
Il who was dragging . seal from DIS
l fathers boat - their tent. At Hope
dale an Eskimo hoy and girl were Kill
ed and devoured: at Main the dogs
dragged q missionary's baby out
ios its cradle and reduced 10
tbopes before the distracted motner
found out what had become Of 1t. Az
Domino they deyoured a msddle-aged
! woman before help could reach nef;
at Bardana they did the same Win
Ihfteen-year-old girl going to ven ior
water, and al Chateau they destroyeu
three little people-two boys and
firl-Whose father and mother were
absent from home.
A curious fact, however. In that. AT
though every man. woman ana cn''o
lin Labrador has been often once OF
more BY these dogs. there has never
been a case Of hy6rophobia known
there. according to Dr. Grenfeil ana
lhia medical associates during the exi'-
Itence Of the mission.
l They are worst in summer. as tnen
the owner cannot use them for draii
purposes. and leave them to forage
Tor themselves. 70 that they are usual
IIv starving. while in winter they are
| fed fairiy weII. as they have 70 haa'
heavy burdens and work cany ano
Hate. The settlers use them in Sis"-
ling from harbor to harbcr. In hanhns
wood from the forests. In hunting ex-
peditious tr4and AMI In Conveying
peItries to the trading posts and brig
ing tack tho goods Obtained The
dogs. wolf-iike. hunt In packs. and de-
you, the weaker among themselves
ANY dog made a house pct as certain
To be killed by them.
Until now they have been tndtspen-
Isible On the coast As beasts 81 burden
lin winter, and they possess graz
strength. endurance End intelligence.
nut their destructivcnss Is such that
IDr GrcufeIl has now taken the srst
Istrp 20 their eventual extinctson-she
lin, roducison Of the I.apland reinaeer.
lie brought . herd acrors from NOT
uay las, winter. 100 In all. and vii
/ domesticate them.
j The dogs bitterly resent their pres
Il Hence on the coast and attack them on
sight they killed some young onrs
land wounded badly several OF the
Ierown deer that are worked IN bar
Post.