GREYHOUND DYED BLACK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21100, 6 February 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

GREYHOUND DYED BLACK.

COLOUR TEST ON A DOG. CHEMIST'S 'EXPERIMENT. £3OO ANIMAL SOLD FOR £9. s How a professor of chemistry satisfied himself by experiment; that a greyhound ! had been dyed black was described to 9 the magistrates at Ealing, near London, a recently, when Jack Stone, aged 41, book- _ maker, was charged with stealing two greyhounds, valued together at £SOO. a The dogs are Beau Sabre and Beau o Vallon, belonging to Mrs. Edith Gladys t Westley. It was alleged that Beau Sabre • had been dyed black and raced at Hanley, r Staffordshire, as* Black Astor. t Patrick Joe Haimll also appeared to answer a summons alleging unlawful posB session of a greyhound, the property of Mrs. Westley, knowing it to have been stolen on or about November s Mrs. Westley stated that Beau Sabre . r was valued at £2OO and Beau Vallon at s £3OO She identified Beau Sabre because S it answered to its name and it showed general signs of recognition, f Defending Counsel: From the descripe tion of the dog that was circulated, this s dog looks about? as unlike it as it could be' Witness: Yes. I should not have J known him myself if I had seen liim racing. . . i- Anybody who knew anything about g greyhounds would not be likely to sell

it for as little as £4o?—Not if they had any knowledge of the dog. Mr. G. W. Clough, a professor of chemistry at the Royal Veterinary College, stated that he examined the dog and made experiments with some of its hair. He satisfied himself that the dog had been very cleverly dyed black and that its original colour was white. Mr. Hyman Davis stated that he saw the dog called Black Astor win at Hanley on November 28. He saw it run -three times at Hanley. The first time it won, the second time it dead-heated, and the third time it was beaten. Counsel: Had you any idea it was born anything but a black dog ?—No. Hamill, in evidence, stated that he was a dealer in dogs. On November 21 he went to a sale in the West End of London. A man with a car showed him three dogs. He agreed to buy them for £32 10s. One was black. He had no idea it was anything but a genuine black dog. He passed them on to an agent to sell. Counsel: If you knew you had picked up a £2OO dog for £9, would you have let it go out of your charge like that ?—No.

Stone, in evidence, explained that he never dyed the dqg black. It was in the same condition now as when handed to him. Counsel submitted that tho transaction as far as Stone and Hamill wero concerned was genuine. Only a veterinary surgeon could have known that the dog had been dyed. After a retirement, the chairman of the magistrates announced that there was not sufficient evidence on which to convict Stone, who would be discharged. Hamill would be fined £5 with £ls 15s costs.