Feb. 19, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
IBS 
was packing along, but this did not seem to prevent him 
from keeping pretty near the dogs. 
The dogs followed this trail for about a half an hour, 
and then lost it; they were not successful in recovering 
it again. The midnight hour was by this time approach- 
ing, but a real raccoon hunter never goes home "until 
daylight does appear;" and so, after another successful 
nip at the jug all around, we started the dogs out for 
the third time. Here Johnson took the burden of lug- 
ging the game, and we traveled along slowly for at least 
two hours, making a sort of circuitous route so as not 
to get too far from our starting point. Finally the dogs 
again found a trail, and for the third time they and the 
darkies scampered ofif together after a raccoon. 
My companions and myself were not quite so sprightly 
and gay as we were when the dogs got on the trail of the 
first raccoon, but notwithstanding we managed to get 
up a respectable gait. On, on we went, and it seemed 
as though that raccoon might give the dogs a chase 
until morning, when it would be time for I'ls to retire 
to our beds for a little sleep before old Phoibus would 
cast his searching eyes over the horizon. Now through 
a brier patch and then through a cornfield, and finally 
into the timber. Again Ave could tell that the dogs were 
closing in on the raccoon and that he woidd soon have 
to find a tree or else the dogs would get him. On they 
went for ten or fifteen minutes more, and then we could 
tell that the raccoon was treed. 
A little later on we heard Johnson's voice calling to 
us: "Cum on, cum on! he's up a tree, shoM" Then came 
the same process that we went through before. The tree 
had to be felled, and then chance given to the dogs to 
get the animal after the tree is down; in this, however, 
the dogs hardly ever fail. After the tree had been cut 
doAvn the raccoon did not appear, as is generally the 
Case, but stayed in the hollow of the tree. He was soon 
compelled to give up his fort, though, on account of a 
stick Johnson had run up in the hollow of the tree, and 
with which he was dexterously battering him. When he 
did appear on the scene one of the dogs caught him 
by the shank and Jackson had the honor of ki]lin,g him, 
which gave him the advantage over his partner in the 
point of telling the story in some of their future gather- 
ings. 
By this time our refreshments were beginning to give 
out, as well as ourselves phj^sically, and we concluded 
that two raccoons in one night was not so bad after all. 
But not knowing what might happen, we kept the dogs 
out while we made our way toward home. 
It was now 4 A. M., and we all agreed on our home- 
ward march that our hunt was a complete success. Jack- 
.son had one of the raccoons and Johnson the other, 
and I the empty jug. When within a mile or so from 
home the dogs took after something and soon treed it. 
The two negroes took out after the dogs, shouting: 
"Possum! possum! sho' as use alife!" The small tree 
the supposed opossum had gone into was soon reached by 
the two darkies, and they undertook to shake it down, 
but it would not shake; so Johnson climbed up and 
caught the animal, and any one can imagine the disgust 
')f the two darkies on being sold with a big, frisky'old 
tomcat. 
Well, we rolled on, and a happier and more cheerful 
lot of fellows than we never were found anywhere. The 
two darkies sang: "Dar is a coon ober dar, dar is a coon 
ober dar, and we jes' slip ober and git dat coon ober 
dar." In this sonq- we all joined, and when home was 
reached we at once retired; and when old Phoebus cast 
his casual glances around the next morning he failed to 
discover us, for we were still enjoying ourselves in 
slumber — sweet sleep! 
Now a word in regard to our game: 
The raccoon belongs to the ia.mi\y.:Procyonidae and 
genus Procyon. The animal is so called from its haljit 
of dipping its food in the water as if W.ashing it before 
it eats. It is 2ft. long, with a stout body, short limbs, 
pointed ears, broad face, sharp snout, 4 bushy, ringed 
tail. Of a general grayish coloration, and- feeds on fruits 
and vegetables as well as animal substances. Its flesh 
is eatable, and is greatly relished by the colored popu- 
lation of the South. The hide is used for fur caps and 
fur overcoats. 
It was near the noon hour when we awoke from our 
slumbers and dreams of raccoon. We then proceeded 
to divide the spoils of the night's sport, Jackson and 
Johnson each getting a half a coon and the balance being 
divided among us four, and then each man departed for 
his own habitation; but before parting all agreed that 
we .would try it again soon, as these raccoon hunts seem 
to be qiiite the proper thing. M. W. Strouse. 
Atnerican Spaniel Club. 
At a meeting of the executive committee* of the Ameri- 
can Spaniel Club held on Feb. 5, 1898, Messrs. E. H. 
Oldham, R. P. Keasbey, S. J. Bradbur}', H. K. Blood- 
good and Marcel A. Viti being present, it was decided 
to hold the annual meeting on Feb. 22, 1898, at 4 P. M.. 
at Madison Square Garden. 
The club's annual dinner will be held upon the same 
date, at 8 P. M., at Zangheri's, No. 17 East Twenty- 
second street. New York. Tickets for the same may 
be procured from members of the committee. 
The third annual sweepstakes will be judged at the 
New York show. In addition to the cash added to each 
stake by the club, the president offers silver medals to 
the winners. 
During the fiscal year last past the leading bench 
shows conformed to the club's requirements by adopt- 
ing one of its classifications and requesting a club judge 
to officiate. New York, Chicago, St. Louis. Baltimore 
and Toronto, 1897, adopted Classification No. i and 
adopted additional classes; Boston. 1898, adopted Clas- 
sification No. I. and Pittsburg and Brooklyn, 1897, 
adopted Classification No. 2. 
Fifty-eight special prizes were offered by the club for 
Spaniels. This number includes the following cash spe- 
cials.. New York. $20; Chicago, $20; St. Louis, $20; 
Pittsburg, $15: Baltimore, $20; Toronto, $20; Brooklyn, 
$15; Boston, $20. 
During the year the total entries of spaniels at the 
shows amounted to over Sod. 
Pacific Goast Field Trials. 
The fifteerith annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Field 
Trials C]i;b was held at Bakersfield. The trials began 
on Jan. 24 and ended on Jan. 27. Mr. Arthur Merriman, 
of Memphis, and Judge C. N. Post, of Sacramento, Cai., 
assumed the judicial duties. There were eight entries 
in the Derby. Judging from the report in Field Sports, 
the competition was feeble and low in grade. The win- 
ners were, first, J. E. Lucas's pointer dog Alex C. (Glen- 
beigh^ — Saddlebags); second, W* S. Tevis' pointer dog 
Cuba of Kenwood (Glenbeigh, Jr. — Stella); third. 
Frank Maskey's English setter bitch Lady Rod's Chaff 
(Rod's Chaff — Cresida). In this stake were four setters, 
one of which M'as Irish, and four pointers. Of the winner, 
the report says of his first work in the heat with Teal: 
"Alex ran into a bevy and flushed it, the birds going 
into good cover. Working the brace on to the scattered 
birds, many flushes were made which seemed inexcus- 
able, but scent might have been bad, as a north wind of 
some force was blowing. Alex made two points from 
which birds were raised, and five where no bird could 
be fomid. Alex showed consideraI:)]c speed and at times 
fair range, making some good casts, but comes in to his 
handler too much, and has a very bad habit of stopping 
to point where there is no bird." , 
Lady Rod's Chaff's work was snch as would have put 
her out of any stake in wdiich there was competition 
worthy the name. In her first heat "Lady Rod's Chaff 
ran into a bevy down wind, which flushed and settled in 
sage on a slight raise. The dogs were .sent after them, 
where Lady made two points, nicely backed by Verona, 
but in both cases, before her handler reached her. Lady 
broke in, flushed in and chased. This was all the work 
done in the heat. Both bitches were fast and wide 
rangers, very stylish in their manner of hunting and 
pretty movers. Bolh made some nice and intelligent 
casts, and should make very classy workers when prop- 
erly broken. It was claimed that Verona was sick, which 
was probably so, for she showed no evidence of nose 
whatever." 
In the second round in the heat between Lady Rod's 
Chaff and .'\Iex C. "Lady was the first to find, but pur- 
s.ued the same tactics of the daj- before and flushed the 
bevy. A minute later she pointed an outlying single 
which had not gone with the bevy, and when it flushed 
she started to chase. .A.lex, working up on the bunch, 
made a number of points from which no bird could 
be raised, and four to which he was steady to shot and 
wing. Both dogs backed well. Lady made altogether 
one hevy and three single points. Lady works with 
nice, high head, has good speed, covers her ground to 
good advantage, made no points from which birds were 
not raised, and has verj' good sty\e both iiT motion and 
on point. Only her flitshing and chasing, which followed 
every point, lost her race." 
In the final heat between Alex C. and Cuba of Ken- 
wood, "some good and a good deal of bad work was 
done. Each got one good point and both back nicely, 
but Alex- with his characteristic caution made three false 
points. In range they are about equal, but Alex is a 
trifle fast and puts more spirit into his work, shows better 
style." 
There were fifteen starters in the all -age stake. Dash 
Antonio and Valiente bolted the competition and out 
of the race. 
The winners were, first, E. V. Sullivan's setter bitch 
Peach Mark (Mercury — Betsy Mark); second. W. S. 
TcAds' pointer dog Cuba of Kenwood (Glenbeigh, Jr. — 
Stella) ; third, Mrs. C?esar Young's setter dog Luke 
(Toledo Blade — Cambriana). 
The Eastern importations were not largely in the win- 
ners' places, which is as one should have anticipated, con- 
sidering the radical difference in the habits of Eastern 
and California birds, the difference in methods respect- 
ively, the differences of climate, etc. 
At the club meeting held on Jan. 25 the election of 
officers took place as follows: President, H. W. Keller; 
Vice-President. J. E. de Rityter; Second Vice-President. 
W. S. Tevis; Secretary-Treasurer, J. M. Kilgarif; Ex- 
ecutive Committee, J. E. Terry. C. N. Post, J. H. Schu- 
macher, Andrew Jackson and William Schrieber. The 
third Monday in January, 1899, was fixed for the date 
of the next trials. 
Was it Rabies? 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I had an English setter of good breeding, and as a 
hunting dog he would be hard to improve upon. He 
could locate a bird further than any dog I ever saw. 
On Dec. 30 we were crossing a field, when suddenly 
he turned to the left and made straight for an old over- 
grown ditch, by actual measurement 360 paces away, and 
there came to a point on some quail among the grape- 
vines; and he would have held that point for any rea- 
sonable length of time. Pie was a fine retriever, and was 
just about what Col. Hough, of Chicago, would call a 
"meat dog." He was a very mild-mannered old fellow, 
and was never known to get into a fight. About the 
only thing that Avould wake him up was to see me get- 
ting ready to go shooting, and even then he woidd not 
get excited, as some 'dogs do. 
Last Sunday my little girl and myself were snowball- 
ing each other, when, much to our surprise, Tom came 
bounding up to us and grabbed me by the arm, his teeth 
just touching my skin. We wondered at it, and went 
at the snowballing again, when he jumped right on 
Margaret and pulled her down in the snow, but let go 
the moment I said "charge!" I then sent him to the 
barn. Next morning he failed to show up for his break- 
fast, but they thought he had gone downtown with me 
to the office, and of course I supposed he was at home 
as usual, till a farmer came in and said my dog had 
appeared at his place, fidly ten miles away, very tired 
and covered with blood; that he had brought him to 
town in his sleigh, but that he had jumped out of the 
cutter on the outskirts of the town and pitched into a 
dog. I at once went on a hunt for him and found him 
in the act of tearing a dog to pieces; but he came up 
as usual, wagging his tail, when he was called. W^e se- 
cured him, chained him up and nursed him all week, 
but on Thursday he was evidently in a great deal of 
pain and howled all night, although we did everything 
possible for him, On Friday he had a very severe at- 
tack of diari^hoea, and on Saturday morning he died. I 
would say 'that on Thursday night when he appeared to 
be suffering so much he tore everything to pieces within 
reach. He had a canker iti the ear, and I thought it was 
cured last fall, but when the cold weather came it reap- 
peared. I have examined the ear, but do not find very 
much inflammation existed, and I can hardly think that 
the canker was the cause of the trouble. 
I find that after he left the house on Monday he made 
a most furious attack on a shepherd bitch, almost killing 
her, which he undoubtedly would have done had not 
the owner appeared with 'a stick and driven him off. 
Then he chased a hound into a shed and tried to get 
at him. but could not, as the hound had taken refuge 
under some machinery, and my dog could not reach 
him. He then left and trotted quietly along the road 
till Mr. Fowler found him and brought hin> back to 
town, where he caught a mongrel cur and almost killed 
it before the owner chased him away with a club. Then 
he got hold of another cur, the one he was mauling 
when I found him. and killed it outright. 
It will be a long time before I get another dog as 
good as old Tomboy, and my sympathy is with any one 
who loses such a good and faithful animal. 
J. W. Cowan. 
Diseased Dogs and Dog Show Rules. 
New York, Feb. 7. — To intending exhibitors at the 
coming bench show to be given by the Westminster 
Kennel Club in Madison Square Garden, opening Feb. 
21. I desire to say that almost every year a few dogs are 
piesented for admission whose conditions are such as to 
make them objectionable on the bench, being perhaps 
afllicted with contagious diseases or with some form of 
skin disease, though not necessarily of a contagious char- 
acter, still rendering them undesirable as exhibits, and 
which it is my unpleasant duty as veterinarian to exclude. 
I would suggest that the following rule be carefully 
read, viz.. Rule 9, clause 3, American Kennel Club 
Rules Governing Dog Shows: 
"A dog suffering from any hereditary, contagious or 
objectionable disease shall be disqualified and forfeit the 
prize which may be awarded it, and shall be at once re- 
moved from the building. A regularly appointed veter- 
inary surgeon shall alone decide as to the condition of 
the dog. and his decision must be given in writing." 
This rule will be most rigidly enforced. 
H. Clay Glover. 
Veterinarian to the Westminster Kennel Club. 
Gordon Setter Glub of America. 
The annual meeting of the Gordon Setter Club of 
America will be held at Madison Square Garden on 
Tuesday evening, Feb. 22 (second night of the Dog 
Show), at 7:30 o'clock, for the election of officers and the 
transaction of such other business as may then come up. 
Members are requested to send in their annual dues ($5) 
and the names of those to be proposed for membership to 
the secretary. L. A. Van Zandt, Sec'y-Treas., 
No. 938 Prospect avenue, New York. 
Alabama Field Trials Glub Trials. 
These highlj'- successfid trials were run at Madison, 
Ala., beginning Feb. 7. Winners of the Derby were: 
R. H. Lowe's Mack L.. first; T. M. Spencer's Tony 
Dick, second; C. E. Meglemry's Rex of Birmingham, 
third. 
All-Age Stake.— H. H. Mayberry's Alabama Girl, 
first; Rex of Birmingham, second; Tony Dick, third. 
Puppy Stake. — Dan R., first. 
Champion Stake — Ashford & Odom's Von Gull, first. 
A detailed report will be given in our next issue. 
POINTS AND FLUSHES. 
The premium list of the Northwestern Kennel Club 
can be obtained of the secretary, C. E. N. Howard, 48 
East Fourth street, St. Paul, Minn. Mr. R. W. Mathews, 
a member of the bench show committee, write us as 
follows: "We will pay out in cash prizes about $2,000, 
including specials. The hall will bench 800 dogs. It is 
well lighted and ventilated on all sides. It is on a central 
corner, the best location in the city." 
The Sun publishes an item in a recent issue as fallow.s: 
"Los Angeles, Feb. 7. — The Coursing Club has debarred 
Dr. Van Hummell, of Indianapolis, from further partici- 
pation in its matches. He is charged with having run 
in a 'ringer' on the club and beat the pool box. A 
week ago last Sunday Dr. R. S. Withers, a veterinary 
surgeon, entered a dog called San Pedro, and he was 
beaten. Yesterday San Pedro won everything in sight. 
Dr. Van Hummell, it is claimed, backed San Pedro heav-^ 
ily. The club has discovered that San Pedro is the im- 
ported Chit Chat, owned by Dr. Van Hummell." 
Mr. C. E. Buckle, of the Charlottesville Field THal 
Kennels, writes us as follows: "I found it almost im- 
possible to find a location in Mississippi with enough 
birds to train on this spring, without going far South, 
and knoAving there were lots in this State (North Caro- 
Ima) last fall, I decided to come back. This is prob- 
ably an unprecedented move on the part of a trainer, 
and it seems almost foolish to leave that pretty-looking 
Southern country, but as you know, we can do nothing 
without birds." Mr. Buckle is now located at Linwood, 
N. C. 
IVFany tons of the Johnson biscuits have been shipped 
to the Klondike. They were only recently put on the 
market, but they sell like hot cakes. Those who have 
used thein claim that they are good alike for dog and 
man, and excellent for either. 
The field trial winner Count Gloster died on Jan. 29. 
He contracted distemper at W'est Point, Miss., and was 
for that reason unfitted for competition in the Conti- - 
nental Trials at New Albany, and for that reason was 
not run, as was mentioned in these columns at the time. 
He had been sold to the Verona Kennels at a lung 
