The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-11-22


ord II is the only fight by rounds in
which two CANNES have been the COM
batants. In this case the fight was not
staged by promoters but by mutual con-
sent of the beligerents. The opposing
dog was little fox terrier, about the
same size of Bench, owned by Emmett
Rea. The scene of the bout was the
street in front of the Ratcliff dry goods
store. The dogs seemed to have a
grudge against each other that needed
no explanation. When they met they
went to it, tooth and nail. A crowd soon
gathered, but the dogs willed not that
the crowd should make sport OF their
warfare. They Immediately parted, the
Rea dog trotting complacently off to
the old building occupied by the Vinita
Produce company, while Bench took
his place under the RatcliG carriage.
The crowd dispersed A few minutes
later the Chieftain reporter. who was
working in the office, which was then
located over the building occupied by
the HUason drug store, heard sounds
OF the renewed combse. The two ca
mines had started the second round.
AS soon as the crowd gathered they
again separated and as each turned
his back On the other no attempt at
mcaestati01 was made by the either.
Three times this occurred and the
final outcome of the struggle was never
known for the crowd was bound to see
the end, if possible, and the dogs We're
just as determined that their fighting
would be done without gathering ef
the fans The Chfeftain, at the time
gave an account of the fight and the
article was reprinted by almost every
paper in the state and by The Kansas
City papers. This made place for
Bench in Vinita Where ever he went
after that he had the respect OF his
fellow citizens.
Another story of the intelligence of
Bench is tItd at the expense uf Fred
Ratcliff. A few years ago a very beau
tiful and talented youug lady OF Kan
sas City, was the guest in thiscity of
Mr.. and Mrs +. l. orr The mfatua-
ton of the young Ratcliff seemed to
know no bounds, and the calls Became
sc regular that it Was recoHaed that
eight nights in succession had found
Kr. Ratcaiff at the home ,of Mr. Orr
On the ninth night some business had
called Fyed from the CITY. Bench came
home about 8 o'clock in the evening
and failed to find Fred. A few minutes
later Mr.. Orr heard a scratching at
his front door and on opsning the
door, found his caElsar was mo other
than Bench who pranced in, wagging
his tail, and looking around fSr his lost
master. Not finding him he did not
tarry long, but went back home.
In all of his tempestuoHs career
Bench never came within the tolls of
the law but once. That time he erred
by straging about dine city without his
collar and tax tag. An efficient but
|unfeeling dog catcher took him in GUS
tody ;ana placed him i'm the city pound
along with nine either dogs of much
larger stature. The larger dogs once
inside the bastile gave up, and calmly
awaited their fate Not so with Bench.
AS soon as the dog ecatoher was out of
sight Bench put into execution his plan
Iof escape. He found a place where
the ground was not $50 hard a1d began
to scratch with all his energy. Soon
he had scraped out hole large enough
not only for himself to crawl out but
to ALLOW his nine yelping companions
in grief 40 escape. For several years
the tax ON Bench was paid, but he soon
became sso we'll known and his habits
OF staying at home 50 regular chat for
the last four years no tax was neces-
sary and no dog cstcher weald inn
pound him
Bench IS the only dog that ever llVed
that so ingratiated himself aaao the
good wishes of Judge Clark as to be
permitted to enter the home of the
Clarks. Judge Clark still holds 10 the
old fashioned theory that dogs should
not be permitted in the house. But
with Bench it was different. In old
age Bench acquired rhenmatism, but
this never kept him from hobbling over
to the Clark home for a few ehSSce
scraps each morning. Seeing the evi-
dent pain as the faithful old dog hob
led about was too much for the Judges
heart and he weakened in his ruling
against dogs and brought the old fel-
low in by the warm fire, where he
warmed his rheumatic legs with much
satisfaction.
While Bench lived beyond the usual