BLOODHOUNDS AND MURDER.
LTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.'.1
SIR,—Considering the general interest which has lately been manifested in the question as to whether bloodhounds can be successfully employed in the tracking of murderers, the following paragraph, taken from a recent issue of the Vossische Zeitung, would seem to be very relevant :—
"In a village in the (vicinity of Bergedorf (near Hamburg) a murderer was discovered by the aid of a bloodhound belonging to the Bergedorf constabulary. On his way home from a village ball, a tradesman of Fischbeck (near Bargteheide), of the name of Walter, fifty years of age, was killed close by Hohnk's public- house during the night, eleven wounds, evidently caused by a knife, being found in his body. Police-Constable Nehrenz of Bergedorf was ordered to go over the ground with the police hound 'Hilda.' The latter took the scent from a bloodstained stone which had evidently been used by the murderer, and led the constable straight to Vorburg, a village at a distance of some four miles (English) from the place where the deed was committed. Here she entered a cottage, taking the garden gate at a leap, and stopped short, giving tongue, before a door leading to a living-room. A moment later a working man named Hitscher, twenty-six years of age, entered the cottage from the courtyard. The hound at once seized him, and could only with difficulty be persuaded to release her hold. Hitscher was arrested on the spot. It has since been ascertained that he and the murdered man were the last guests who visited the public-house on the fatal night, and that he did not return home until the following afternoon. He is unable to prove an alibi."
Previous page
