RUN OVER 800 TIMES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 901, 19 February 1930, Page 13

RUN OVER 800 TIMES

DOG SPENDS TWO DAYS IN TUNNEL LAST MINUTE RESCUE “Jack,” a five-year-old terrier, is the hero of the Odyssey of the Underground. For over 50 hours he braved the darkness and terrors of a metropolitan railway tunnel; while huge monsters, with great, glaring eyes, flashed past with a screeching roar every few minutes. There must have been nearly SOO of them. Crouched down between the rails on the up line barely an inch from the live conductor, Jack waited with sublime faith in the power of his master to rescue him. The story of Jack's adventure is told by his master, Mr. A. J. Beck, of Kensington Place, in a London exchange. ‘‘X had to go to Gloucester Road,” said Mr. Beck, “and walked with Jack to Notting Hill Gate Station. It is my practice to send him home at the end of the street, but on this morning he eluded me, and, while I was getting my ticket, dashed down the stairs leading to the trains. “The ticket collector and the bookstall boy both tried to stop him, but he jumped down on to the rails and ran off into the tunnel. “Railway officials saw him during the afternoon, about halfway between Notting Hill Gate and Queen’s Road. Platelayers also saw him during the night. He only growled at them when they tried to get him to come out. “He had been there two days when tho railway officials communicated with the R.S.P.C.A. An inspector arrived, but Jack would have nothing to do with him. It. was decided, as a last resort, to throw him some poisoned meat. “And here conies the most extraordinary part of the story. The inspector went to Mr. Wingfleld, a butcher, nearby, for the meat. Mr. Wingfield said to him ‘I have some liver, but it is for a customer of mine. He has lost his dog, so perhaps he will let you have it.’ “Mr. Wingfleld persuaded the inspector to come to see me. I went with the inspector to the station, and then, accompanied by a porter, walked along the tunnel to the place where Jack tvas. “We had to wait for a train to pass. When 1 bent down to the dog he growled at me, not realising who it was. I touched him and said, ‘Come on, Jack, let’s go and have some dinner.’ “He lifted his head, got up, stepped carefully over the rails, and waited for me to put his lead, on. We only had three minutes to secure him before the next train came along.”