DOGS IN MURDER MYSTERIES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 252, 17 October 1908, Page 3

DOGS IN MURDER MYSTERIES

The attempt made. at. Liverpool to lind the murderer of little -Margaret Kirby by means of bloodhounds is no new thing in the annals of clinic. That these dogs,will track down a man by scent alone is quite true. Uul the experiment must be carried out in the open country, and the trail must not be crossed, either by other persons,l or by animals, otherwise the hound will I almost certainly be led astray.

Bloodhounds have frequently been tried in cities—notably in London during the ".luck the Ripper" scare—bul never successfully.

Once, at Blackburn, it is true, a dog did actually track ,i murderer named William Fish through crowded streets to hi s home, and aitcrwards nosed out the body of his victim, a little girl, which he had hidden up a chimney. The animal that performed this reninrkitlile detective feat, however, was not a pure bloodhound; nor did it rely wholly, -or even principally, upon its powers of scent, being guided, apparently, more by the faculty, common to most dogs, of finding his way back again to a certain locality where it had once been.

There are, of course, plenty of instances of dog s solving murder mvsteries by calling attention to the whereabouts of the corpse. For instance, Piiehel, the wholesale murderer of servant girls, was thus brought to justice. A little terrier kept whining and barking round a chalk pit near hi s house. The police dug there, and found a. private cemetery, containing the remains of more than a score of his victims.