Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23


III Mullikin of Lexington, KY, is known
II by the rather fearsome title, The.
bloodhound man." That's because
he, with his keen scented dogs, has
tracked down SO many criminals and brought
them to justice
Capt MulIikin was also once called by
governor of the Bluegrass State "Kentuckys
most valuable citizen" And for exactly the
same reason that he won that other and less
glittering cognomen.
This astute detector of lawbreakers Is no
piercing-eyed ogre of a man, and his blood
hounds are not the hesh-tearing breed Of man.
hunters that the average person visions chasing
Eliza over the ice cakes in Uncle Toms Cabin
Capt Mulkin-who got that title In the
Spanish Ame rican wars friendly in manner,
quiet spoken. HIS sandy hair is tinged with
gray and his clear blue eyes are set IN face
tanned by exposure to sun and wind. He IS
no blusterer and the killer instinct Is happily
lacking from his emotional equipment
His dogs, uncanny finders and followers OF
the trails of horse thieves, moonshiners, muir
derers, are not man-hating beasts that feed on
raw, red meat, and strain at their chains when
they are not baying menacngly on the track
of some fugitive from justice. They are likable,
intelligent hound dawgs," much more ready
to wag friendly tail than to curl a threatening
lip.
NEULLKIN, who probably knows as much
about bloodhounds as any man in
America, says Of this breed of dogs: They are
not ferocious, as many persons think, but are
gentle and very intelligent When they find
a person they have trailed, they do not leap on
him and try to tear him to pieces, but are
more likely to put friendly paws on him and
invite him to play Sometimes they back away
and bark, and always, the person runs,
they follow him.
There is a great deal of misconception abroad
concerning bloodhounds, and many people have
the idea that the name bespeaks the blood
thirsty disposition of the breed. But as have
explained this is not
II think bloodhounds so called because
they are blooded, or highly bred. The breed
originated in England where 1t was Scientffl-
cally bred to trail from scent"
For 80 years Capt Mullikin has been using
bloodhounds to run down criminals not only in
his home State, but in Virginia, West Virginia,
Tennessee and Ohio as we'll. During this time
he has caught more than 1000 lawbreakers, 100
of whom were put behind the bars for life, and
40 of whom paid the death penalty for their
crimes.
perience at rounding up bad men, Mullkin has
been shot three times.
Not all of the cases which 'the bloodhound
man" has handled were capital offenses, al
though generous percentage of them have
been murder, arson and theft
With his most celebrated bloodhound, Nick
Carter-who has gone to the place where all
good hound dogs go-Mullkin trailed AT per-
sons who were subsequently convicted OF one
crime or another. And with the able assistance
of two other of his dogs, Royal Carter and
Leona Baze, he located and brought to justice
more than 600 others who wandered of the
straight and narrow to commit offenses against
society.
CAPT. MULLIK1N suffers from decisions
that he Is compere Of Sherlock Holmes,
in spite of the fact that he has turned In some
masterful jobs Of detective work. He gives
practically all the credit for his success to his
hounds.
st do not have lunches" says Mullikin. In
fact, hardly ever work out any deep theories
about a case; just follow the dogs. Many
times they've led me long and tiresome Journeys
so that I've had on certain occasions TO lie
of rest.
when I first took up detective work with
bloodhounds as helpers" Mullixin relates, the
courts did not like TO admit evidence based ON
the findings of the four-footed trailers but the
evidence may be taken circumstantial pro-
vided that the bloodhounds are pure-bred ami
mails, that the scent is picked up at the scene
If the crime and that other evidence presented
in the case tends to corroborate what the dogs
indicate
1t was as have said, about 50 years ago
that l got into detective work. And In spite
of its dangers and sometimes unpleasant phases,
I have found more pleasure in this work than
in anything else have done.
AT that time my brother law was sheriff