DOG SAVES ITS MASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12272, 16 May 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

DOG SAVES ITS MASTER.

WARNS HIM OF FIRE AND DIES OF

SUFFOCATION. A TOtrcniNG storj of a dog that saved its master's life and lost its own was incidentally elicited by an inquiry into (he death of William Buckley, at Barnsbury. The animal, a sheep dog, belonged to Thomas Manning, a potman at the Barnsbury Castle Tavern. Buckley, who was a meat porter, and Manning had been drinking together. Some time after midnight they went to sleep in a stable near the tavern, lying on the straw that covered the floor., The potman was aroused about three o'clock in the morning by his dog patting him on the nose with its paw. He awoke half-choked with smoke. The stable was on fire. Manning, at the inquest, said ho sprang to his feet, awakened Buckley three times, and then, leaving him rubbing his eyes, rushed halfsuffocated out of the building. He raised an alarm, he continued, and assisted in rescuing some horses. Thinking Buckley had followed him out he forgot to direct attention to him. He was, too, " dazed," and hardly knew what he was doing. Threequarters of an hour elapsed, and then the firemen found the dead and charred body of Buckley. In a corner of the stable lay the sheep dog. Both had been suffocated before the fire reached them. " Didn't you even think of your dogthe faithful animal that probably saved your life?" the coroner asked Manning, who shook his head sadly. The jury expressed regret at the potman's lapse of memory, but Mr. Schroeder, in recording the verdict of "' Accidental death," said he thought the fact of Manning having forgotten his dog as well as his friend ought to be taken as proof that he was dazed and did not know what he was doing.