DOG-STEALING.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3061, 6 December 1878, Page 1

DOG-STEALING.

| He who has lost a favorite dog can form a correct estimate of the feelings of another who has suffered what we must be pardoned for calling a similar bereavement. We do not mean an animal valued merely for excelling in some particular quality, the possession of which you require, and consequently esteem, and which procures for him your favor in preference to your other canine followers, but we refer to the dog that forms a part of your family circle, that loyal and truthful animal whose intelligence and incorruptible fidelity have thoroughly endbared him to.you. The misfortune of having your favorite dog killed by accident, or of losing him by death from natural cauies, is extremely unpleasant, and yon regret his loss almost as you would that of a true friend, but then you know the end of him; with a kidnapped dogy however, it is a different thing, and any one havings particle-of humanity cannot fail to be painfully solicitous about the welfare of such a creature, when the animal's attachment and unwavering devotion to himself hare been proved in a hundred different ways. ... In all probability one never hears of a tithe of instances of dog-stealing that actually take place, but yet those that are made public are quite sufficient in themselves, both in point of numbers and in the complete manner in which the animals are spirited away, to profe that the " profession has many followers, and that a perfect organisation is observed in carrying on the work. Several cases of dofi-stealing have occurred recently, and we have now before us a letter from a gentleman who writes, "I am so miserable at the loss of my little dog, I cannot bear to write or think about it." ... . . At present the only chance of recovering a stolen dog is by advertising and offering a good reward, in which case, if the animal was not specially "wanted," when it was stolen,.; or, in other .words, stolen to order, after many mysterious communications and dodges on the part of the thief and his accomplices, the animal is restored after his ransom has been paid. Probably, however, the offered reward is not sufficiently high at first, in which case you will not succeed in obtaining any response; a greater amount is advertised, and perhaps a third still greater is offered, and when you have almost given up all hope a questionable-looking character calls on you to enquire if you are the person who has been advertising for a dog of a certain description, which may not quite tally with yours, or may, according to the tactics determined on by the firm. Probably, however, the description is near enough to that of your lost pet to give you great hopes. On pressing for further particulars and information about what you begin to think must be your lost favorite, your visitor probably informs you that he himself has not seen a dog answering the description of your animal, but that a friend of his has seen one which he thinks must be the same, and you are told that if you wish to satisfy yourself as' to the identity of the animal in question, you had better go at once with the informant. You take a cab and drive off, generally towards to the East End (the directions being given by your companion), and alight in some obscure street. Then commences a circuitous and confusing tramp through a perfect labyrinth of dirty slums and narrow passages, until you eventually find yourself in front of a squalid public-house. You follow your companion into a foul and unwholesome back parlour, when your conductor informs you he will go and fetch his fri< nd to whom he alluded as being the likely •individual to know something about your dog. You are kept waiting for half-an-hour, or perhaps more, being in the meantime, perhaps, interrupted in your solitude every few minutes by visitors, generally disreputable • looking scoundrels, whose appearance is in perfect harmony—if harmony can exist under such conditions —with the place. These may pretend to be looking for some one else, and perhaps ignore your presence entirely, or may address some remark to you and retire again. At length, and perhaps as you are beginning to exhibit symptoms of impatience, a man wearing his hat well pressed down over his face, or muffled almost up to the eyebrows, appears, and gives you an exact description of your dog, and offers to fetch it for you, but you must pay the ransom first, and perhaps stand liquors to some three or four chums who, the ruffian goes through the farce to tell you, have assisted him in getting the dog from some other imaginary " crib." Your affection for your dog compels you to comply with this one-sided arrangement. The recipient of the reward then retire?, and some other equally estimable member of society brings in your do<j. You take the latter, and the pleasure of possessing your lo.'t favorite again, coupled with the cut-throat appearance of the individuals about you, of the* place itself, and of your utter ignorance of your whereabouts, all conduce to ■ the desire to be clear of the neighborhood as quicklyas possible. You will find, however, that the individuals with whom you have been directly in treaty have retired, so that even in the remote chance of- a policeman appearing, there would be no one to give in charge. Probably, however, as is sometimes the case, it is tacitly admitted by the thief that he has got your dog, and he only consents to restore it on the receipt of the reward, and of a promise that you will not attempt to take legal measures afterwards. "Considering all things, you come to the conclusion that an attempt to bring the offender to book would in all probability fail, and as that perchance lie on his part undertakes that your dog shall not be stolen again, you " grin nnd bear it." The above is no fancied sketch ; it is the narrative of what actually occurred to a gentleman of our acquaintance, who had a valuable blue and-tan Yorkshire terrier stolen from him not long since.

[The foregoing remarks are not a fancied sketch, as the writer of the article we hare quoted from in Land and Water has said. We know of several actual occurrences of the kind. In one case, where the owner of the favourite refused to pay a ransom of £50, a shameful threat was really carried out, and the animal was placed in the area of its master's house alive with its paws cut ofi'. This was doubtless done to create a panic among dog-lovers who have lost their pets, for the case is quoted to this day by the rascals when they are trading on the affections of distressed persons. Dogstealers are known, and* ought to be rooted out bag and baggage.—Ed.]