The Bloodhound. 



failure, excepting so far as they afforded an induce- 

 ment to owners of the variety to give a Httle time 

 and trouble to working their favourites, which 

 hitherto had only been kept for fancy purposes. A 

 little later, similar meetings were held at Dublin, in 

 the grounds of the Alexandra Palace, London, and 

 elsewhere, but in no case could they be called very 

 successful. 



I had the good fortune to be present at two 

 particularly interesting gatherings, that took place 

 during the wintry weather of January, 1889, and 

 maybe the following particulars, written at the time, 

 give a better idea of the modern capabilities of 

 bloodhounds than could be written now. It must 

 be noted that the hounds mentioned were of the 

 so-called prize strains, were '* show dogs " in the 

 modern acceptation of the term, and, excepting 

 perhaps in ferocity, they would no doubt compare 

 favourably with any hounds of the kind that lived 

 fifty, a hundred, or more years ago. 



Readers will no doubt be aware that, about 1889 

 and a little earlier, considerable commotion had 

 been caused in the metropolis by the perpetration 

 of some terrible crimes. The police arrangements 

 were entirely futile, and the murderers still remain at 

 large. The attention of the authorities was drawn 

 to the fact that bloodhounds might be of use to them 



c 



