Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1874 — BITTEN BY MAD DOGS. [ARTICLE]

BITTEN BY MAD DOGS.

Fearful Career of a Couple ofllad Dogs In Chicago—Over Twenty Persons abd More than Forty Dogs Bitten— Great Kxclteinent Among the Denizens of the North Side. t The existence of a mad dog excitement in the city of Chicago is unfortunately not rare. In that city attempts have been made to take a dog census, but those who have made the undertaking have always been obliged to give up before its completion because of its magnitude. It is safe to estimate the number of dogs in that city at 100,000, aud it is not surprising therefore that an excitement occasionally sweeps over the city like an east wind over the prairies. In this ease there was reason for it, as the following facts abundantly justify. - About seven o’clock on a recent morning a large yellow dog was seen running frantically along Starr street, in the North Division Of the city, frothing at the mouth and snapping at every person or animal that came in its way. There were but few pedestrians on the street, and the most of these were children who were out at play or going on errands. The grown people who 6aw the mad animal seemed paralyzed yith fear, and, instead of endeavoring to stay the animal’s deadly career, sought safety in flight. The brute rushed upon numbers of little children whom it met in its rabid career, and bit .them with more or less severity. Every dog that it met received its peculiar attentions, and Starr street resounded with the yelping of the poor bitten brutes. The “ yaller dog” was having things its own way, and made a triumphal progress down the street, driving everything before it arid inspiring terror far and wide. The news finally reached the police station, and an officer was detailed to look after the animal. He found it and at once gave chase. The dog ran out on the prairie, south of North avenue and west of Clybournc, keeping just out of pistol range and stopping now and then to bite a brother doe or a child. Once the officer , came near enough to fire with effect, but he only wounded the animal, and the frantic beast sped along; faster than before. Reinforcements finally arrived in the persons of two additional officers, and the three menjissumcd their speediest gait in their efforts to overtake the brute. But it still kept out of range, and jogged along, snapping at real and imaginary enemies, and yelping with the pain that the wound gave it. The chase was »long and exciting one, and all the observers who were old enough to be sensible of danger “cleared the track” and made themselves exceedingly scarce. The officers were pretty thoroughly exhausted before they overhauled the dog at last. They w ere nearing the city limits, and ■were pressing hard upon him, when the, animal suddenly jumped over a fence and ran into a hoflse, bringing consternation to the women folks, and sought refuge under a bed, where it glowered and growled at its persecutors as they surrouuded it. A well-aimed bullet gave it its quietus. It had crowded into two hours

a big day’s work even for a mad dog. It had planted its fangs in the flesh of more than twenty persons, had bitten nearly forty dogs and had led the officers who pursued it a chase of several miles and an hour and a half in duration. About the same time in the morning, in the precinct a little further south, a large dog, frenzied with hydrophobia, attacked a little boy who was delivering morning papers on Clybourne avenue and bit him severely on the hand. Policemen were soon on its track, and it was killed before it bad wrought such appalling mischief as did the animal whose exploits have just been narrated. Its ravages were fearful enough, to be sure, for it succeeded in biting five persons, all children, and about fifteen dogs. Both animals seemed, as a general thing, to avoid adults, thou gh th list of sufferers includes several grown people, and passed many children unnoticed, but they bit every cur they chanceti to meet, and curs are numerous in Chicago. • Medical assistance was promptly summoned for tlie suffering children, and the best remedies for alleviating their pains and killing the seeds of the horrible infection were at once applied. Policemen were engaged during a good share of the day in hunting down and killing the animals which were hitten, and which, if unmolested, would probably be on the war path themselves in two or three days. Citizens also lent a helping hand, aud many of them during the day sacrificed their pet “Fidos” and “ Rovers” for the publit safety. The Mayor, too, issued his proclamation, and for sixty days every unmuzzled canine found upon the streets, mad or otherwise, will his quietus receive at the hands of the prosaic policeman. At the present writing no case of hydrophobia has been developed in any of the three score victims. Their wounds were cauterized and the most efficient remedies known to the profession used to, if possible, prevent the horrible disease.