CONAN DOYLE IN A NEW ROLE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2677, 4 August 1913, Page 8

CONAN DOYLE IN A NEW ROLE.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of “Sherlock Holmes,” acted as his own counsel at Mark Cross Police Court, Tunbridge Wells, when ho had lo answer summonses alleging that a collie dog lie kept at las homo at (...'rowborough had killed and worried sheep. Mr Arthur Hale, a tanner, the complainant, said that ho had seen the dog at Sir Arthur’s house, where he had an interview with Sir Arthur on the matter. Sir Arthur (cross-examining): My suggestion was that in order to prove which dog it was you should lire at it, Irom a distance of about 30 to *lO yards, into the tail part, so that wo should see a mark it it proved to be my dog?— Yes. My dog is between five and six years old. From your experience as a farmer, is it not strange for a. collie to take to annoying sheet) at this age? — Yes, but when they do they stick to it. You are aware that my dog has a good many sons and daughters in the village ? —Yes. You are aware that within 200 or 300 yards of my house there is a iold ol sheep at Mr St. Quentin’s ? —Yes. Dues it not strike you as being very strange that my dog should pass that told or sheep and go to a farm another mile on to worry sheep?—l don’t know. John Hornby, a farm boy, said tiiat lie got close to the dog while it was running among tho sheep, and he was sure from marks on its face that it was Sir Arthur’s dog. Sir Arthur: Flow near did you get, my boy ? —About 10 yards. It was running away as you approached?— Yes. Tiio point is that it is very difficult to see a patch on a dog’s nose if it is running away from you. You have seen my dog since and know that it has a white spot on its nose?— Yes. Have you seen the other collie dogs in the village?— No. Then it is impossible for you to say for certain that mine was tho dog worrying tho sheep. Sir Arthur, addressing tho Bench, said that his dog was physically incapable of annoying sheep. It had some disease in tho jaw which he was told was a common defect in collies, and it could not cat even a crust. They had to feed it on tho softest of food. “The police—l think in a most unwarranted way” (said Sir Arthur) — “suggested that I should destroy Die dog. That suggestion, I understand, came from tho chief constable direct at a time when it was never proved that the dog had touched a sheep.” The dog was of the. gentlest type. It was a valuable and beautiful collie, and the playfellow of his children. Mr Hubert Victor Dale, a veterinary surgeon, said the clog was suffering from faulty conformation of the jawbones. It was physically incapable of killing a sheep. The Chairman (Mr H. E. Sheppard) said tho Bench were satisfied that it was a case of mistaken identity on the party of the complainant, and tho case would bo dismissed.