The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
DOG BITE CAUSE
OF UNIQUE SUIT
IN LOCAL COURTS
Little Girl Bitten, Father
Kills Dog, Jury Gives the
Owner of the Dog
$500 Damages
% the Editor of The Age-Herald.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
I noticed In the evening paper of jan
uary q, under the headline, DOG Bit
Child. Father Kills Dog. Must Pay DAM
ages" that the general impression would
be that the dog was wrongfully and ma
licously killed for practically no reason.
The facts are that on April %, 1913, this
bull dog weighing about 100 pounds,
came into my yard and bit my Swear
old daughter on the right cheek, making
a very ugly and dangerous looking wound.
In less than one hour thereafter I called
on the people owning the dog and stated
to the lady that their. dog had bitten my
child and knowing that the dog was al
lowed to run at large continually called
to see IL they would object to keeping the
dog confined for a reasonable length Of
time, say two or three weeks, SO that if
anything Objectionable developed in the
dog no one else would be bitten and also
that the dog could be easily reached.
In a very insulting manner the lady
said that she would not think of keeping
the dog up for one minute.
then proposed that she let me have
possession of the dog for reasonable
length of time and that would keep him
just across the street from her home, and
IL nothing harmful developed in the dog
that I would return him to her, and if
1t did become necessary to kill the dog,
for the purpose of ascertaning whether
or not the child was in danger. I would
pay her any reasonable price for her dog
that she might name.
i
not allow me to have the dog under
any circumstances, and that she would
die before she would have him killed
then told her that We would not dis
cuss the matter any further, but I would
ask her to explain to her husband, when
he came home, what had happened and
j felt sure he would agree to keep the
dog confined.
She said she positively would not make
any explanation to her husband in regard
to the matter.
/ then told her that as I did not even
know her husband or what time he came
home, II she would let me know when
he did come 1 would come over myself
and explain tho whole matter to him.
Her answer was that she would not
only not let me know when her husband
came homo, but that / need not bother
Please bear in mind, Mr.. Editor that
this was the first time I had ever seen
this lady and had never seen her husband
However, after spending a very rest
less and uneasy night and applying diff
ferent treatments to- the wound l started
across the street at an early hour the
next morning to talk with the husband
of this lady, but was told by a nearby
neighbor that the husband had gone to
town some time since. Consequently, at
about $50 o'clock l applied to DIR. Charles
Whelan, the city physician, and related
to him just what had happened.
DR.. Whelan said that L need not be I'M
necessarily alarmed just then, but that
the dog must be kept in close confinement
for two or three weeks in order to avoid
any further danger, and that if there
was anything wrong with the dog it would
develop in that time, but under no circum-
stances must the dog run at large and for
me to go at once to the humane officer,
Mr.. Robert Patton. and have him, upon
Dr. Whelan's instructions, give these peo-
pie written notice to keep this dog up
Officer Patton served this notice himself,
in person.
then visited my family physician, Dr.
J. T. Coulbourn, who had prescribed for
the child when bitten, and again explained
my uneasiness, but DR.. Coulbourn told me
almost word for word what Dr. Whelan
had, and that the dog must be kept con-
fined. And when 1 explained to him that
!. the owners of the dog positively refused