BLOODHOUND DETECTIVES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2439, 2 March 1909, Page 6

BLOODHOUND DETECTIVES.

EXPERIMENTAL PURSUIT OF A THIEF. A gentleman, residing in the Epsom district, England, has sent to a London paper an interesting account oi the ihe measure of success Avhich attended the use of two trained bloodhounds in tracking a thief who had broken into and robbed his foAvlhouse. These hounds were able to carry the pursuit much' farther than the local police, to AV’hom the Avriter of the letter, however, gives full praise for their general intelligence and acti\ r ity. Tlie police traced the thief’s foot-* steps round about the henhouse, but could not follow them over the adjoining fields; and the authorities in the metropolitan area have not given permission to constables to use hounds. So the writer, to gratify liis curiosity, obtained as : a. private courtesy, the services of Major Richardson and his tAvo well-known bloodhounds Solxerino and Waterloo.

Twelve hours had elapsed, a heavy shower had intervened, and the first field liatl- been much trodden since; the robbery. Consequently the hounds worked slowly at first but graduallywent to a barn, inside which, through! Solferino’s excitement, traces were found of hens’ feathers. ‘After this the hounds went on and suddenly got on a clear scent. They both gave tongue, and went straight away over the fields,, down a path, over a railway bridge and two public roads, and across a common to a neighbouring village..” There they were called off and taken back to the starting point, but they took up the same line and ran it for the second time without deviation., Here and there along the route hens’' feathers were found.

The conclusions drawn by the observers as to the thief were emphatic, and the writer points out that if such a result could be achieved after 12 hours under the difficult circiuiistances! mentioned, it is clear that valuable: iaid is at the service of the. police if they were empowered to call in trained bloodhounds immediately. ...