Dog Detective At Whitehall

DOGS AS DETECTIVES.

We last week gave prominence to an Illustration of the training of Mr. Brough's bloodhounds to act as canine detectives; and we quoted an incident to prove that Sir Charles Warren was amply justified in the employment of dogs thus on certain occasions. We now find ready at hand a fresh instance of canine keenness of scent in the discovery of crime.

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Remembering how much humanity Mr. Walter J. Allen has put into his popular canine drawings, "Dogs of Assize" (which doubtless occupy places of honour in Sir Charles Warren's private room), we were not at all surprised to read of the

INTELLIGENCE DISPLAYED BY THE SPITZBERGEN TERRIER

at Whitehall, on the occasion delineated in our front Engraving. It was Mr. Waring (Tilbury Correspondent of the Central News) that hit upon the idea of taking his Spitzbergen dog to the vault of the new Police Buildings, Whitehall, where the remains of a female were lately discovered, in order to scent out the missing portion of the body. The search was made on Wednesday week. The terrier was taken to the spot where the remains were discovered, and by the aid of a candle-light the blood-stained bricks at the base of the wall where the remains were laid were clearly visible. In the opposite corner (less than a couple of yards off) the little terrier sniffed and retired; but, urged to "find it," the dog again went to a heap of earth, and began to scratch it away. Mr. Angle commenced to remove some of the earth with his foot, when Hedge, a labourer, brought a spade, and upon digging away some four or five inches of earth, after the removal of stones and portions of brick from the surface, a red fleshy substance was observed. At this moment the constable on duty at the works gave orders for the digging operations to be stopped until the arrival of his superior officers. Mr. Brown, the assistant-foreman, speedily summoned them to the scene. Sergeants Rose and Ferris arrived, and the former completed the task of unearthing the portion of a limb, which was ultimately found to be the left foot and part of the leg as far as the knee. Dr. Bond, of The Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, made an examination of the leg, and, on comparing it with the trunk, he is of opinion that it belongs to the same body.

A VERDICT OF "FOUND DEAD"

was on Monday returned by the Coroner's jury who held the inquest on the female remains found three weeks ago in the basement of the new Police Offices now in course of construction at Whitehall. From the remarks of Dr. Bond and Mr. Troutbeck, the Coroner, it appeared that death was due to violence, and the cutting up was no doubt due to a desire to conceal the victim's identity, proof of which would almost certainly lead to the elucidation of the mystery. According to medical testimony, the body must have been where it was found for several weeks, and the Coroner was inclined to that view, especially as there was no evidence to show that anything like an examination of the vault had ever taken place until the day the discovery was made. Probably the main object of the person who put the body in the vault was to get rid of it, and not permanently to conceal it, which he must have known to be extremely difficult. Dr. Bond believed that death took place about the end of August or beginning of September. The foot was very well shaped, and was that of a well-to-do person. Mr. Waring, owner of the dog, said it was a Russian terrier, of Arctic breed; and believed that it might have scented out more had it not been interrupted in the search. Be that as it may, the police have another hard task before them to discover the perpetrator of this terrible murder.

Source: Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, Saturday October 27, 1888, Page 263, Issue 1430