THE BLOODHOUND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6622, 11 September 1908, Page 2

THE BLOODHOUND.

in England recently the bloodhound has been brought prominently before the public in tracking criminals. A bloodhound for four days tracked the murderer of Madge Kirby, a little girl, whose body was found in the cellar of an empty house at Liverpool. The dog finally gave up the scent at a railway platform: hence it is believed that the murderer left the city that night by a Birmingham excursion train. In connection with the late "Sevcnoaks Murder" bloodhounds twice followed a course which suggested that the murderer of Mrs Luard (wife of Major-General Luard) escaped along the Tonbridge road. It was reported that there was little prospect of the bloodhounds* search being successful, owing to the fact that, rain foil after tho murder. The Manchester canine journal. Our

Dogs/* says:— „ t ~ I "The discovery of Fish, the Blackburn -■ murderer, by a half-bred Bloodhound from the neighbouring town of Preston, ■ when the police were completely baffled bv the ordinary methods of detection, •: will be fresh in the memory of many-, of the public. Then again the horrible [

carnage in London later of the supposed monster who signed himself "Jack the Ripper," lias never been brought home to the culprit even to this day. At the time. Bloodhounds were suggested as a last resort in an attempt to track this arch-criminal, and Mr Edwin Brough offered the then Chief of Police ia London, Sir Charles Warren, the services of some of his famous Hounds, which, however, Sir Charles declined. "In one way , the thought of tracking evildoers by dogs is somewhat repugnant to Englishmen’s latter-day sense of justice and fair play, being generally regarded as a relic of feudal, or even barbarous times; but there can be little doubt as to its efficacy in bringing criminals to justice when all human effort has failed. And in this way. the very knowledge that dogs were employed as detectives would in itself act as a deterrent to

evildoers.” t [ There are no bloodhounds in New Zealand, and they are practically extinct in Australia, ■where they would be useful at times for tracking purposes. They are not an expensive breed, puppies being : offered in the Old Country from five [ guineas each.