31 JULY 1886, Page 17

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " BPECTATOR."1

you allow me to make a practical suggestion with regard to the Baker Street " mad-dog " case ? The truth seems to lie half-way between the ladies and the police. The police were clearly justified in killing a dog appearing to be mad, but they were as clearly wrong in slowly beating it to death with batons. The baton is a wrong instrument,—(l), If the dog is mad, the baton is inadequate ; (2), if the dog is not mad, it is unnecessarily cruel.

It seems against the first principles of common-sense to give the police an order without giving them the means of carrying it out. Had a revolver on this occasion been obtainable at the nearest police-station, or had the inspector present been pro- vided with one, such a cruel scandal would never have occurred.