Bloodhounds at Work.

Western Star, 13 October 1908, Page 1

Bloodhounds at Work.

An interesting and exciting experiment).'with a bloodhound was carried out by the Liverpool police last month. A child had been murdered and the blooidihpund was employed in an endeavour to track the murderer. The body had been placed in an empty house only a few' hours before the discovery so that the hound had a good chance of picking up the scent. From daylight on a Saturday till early dawn on the Sunday uhe animal kept the police on the run in one quoster of Liverpool. It passed througlh a maze of streets and passages, crossed wide thoroughfares, went into Newsham Park, where the child was supposed to have been decoyed, and passed into the . grounds of a private house, where the murderer was supposed to have taken refuge. At that point the animal keenly “nosed” a human footprint. , After being on the track for eighteen miles, the dog and the detectives were thoroughly worn out, and the hound was taken off the scent, which had continually grown fresher from the start. The hunt was resumed for a short time on Sundby, but progress was impeded 'by crowds of spectators. The track was found again early on tide Monday morning, and for fourteen miles the scent' was never lost. The hound reached tile outskirts of Liverpool and ran into a suburban railway; station. at Edge Hill. It sniffed round the booking office window and then passed to the edge of the platform, leading to the suspicion that the murderer had traversed tlJj neighbourhood and then taken a ticket from Edge Hi.l back to the North-Western station at Lime Station, Liverpool. The animal was at once conveyed to Lime street. It immediately picked up the scent and followed; it from , the booTtighall to No. 8 platform, from which point it. was learnt that an excursion train had' left Liverpool a few hours before the bloodhound’s arrival. It .was inferred from these extraordinary experiences that the murderer wandered hither and thither with the scent, of the girl’s clothes upon him and had finally taken a train from the lame street station to the country.. It was noticed during lUj blood hound s hunt/ that it mode ,a dead stop at the 'doors of more Ilian one surgnop's residence as it passed along the streets, but the check was only momentary. Evfcjitua'fty after a lon** and e.xcitrng hunt the hound tracked Uie murderer to a small house in an obscure alleyway and after nosin-r lerrT lerrihe scratching at, the door and rui ° P U d by . th ° °®^ rs houn d hare tori h? f would. , * ton ? hlm to pieces but for ha. ffig hauled 0% >