Mad Skunk Bites Laborer

1916

Victim of Animal's Attack Made Dangerously Ill.

JUDKINS, Texas — Bennie Adams of Judkins was bitten in the nose by a skunk while asleep in his bedding in a camp where he was helping to drill a well for a ranchman. Young Adams was soundly asleep and was awakened by a vicious bite upon his nose. He yelled as he leaped to his feet, calling for assistance while the skunk which had thoroly fastened his teeth in the boy's nose tenaciously held on and continued to do so until choked loose. Adams was sent to Pasteur Institute at Austin and was reported dangerously ill by the physicians who telegraphed his parents to come.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Bear Saves Child From Its Mate

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Oct. 6. — Frightfully mangled by a captive bear in Idora Park, 10-year-old Selma Lewis, daughter of Fred Lewis, was saved only by the interference of the companion bear in the cage. The little girl was feeding acorns to the bear when it suddenly reached through the bars of the cage, scalping her, frightfully mangling her right arm and biting off three of her fingers. She screamed and the other bear in the cage rushed at its mate, compelling it to loosen the hold on the child. The girl was taken to the city hospital, where her death is expected at any moment.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Oct. 9, 1909.

Wisecracks About the News

1911

That New York person who shot himself five times and failed to kill himself will probably die some day of the pip. You never can tell.

A Washington man has started suit for $300,000 for the loss of his wife. All of which leads us to remark that she must have been some wife.

"In the future," says Doctor Wiley, "the air will furnish heat, fuel and power." It might do so right now if some way to extract the coal from it could be found.

That Kansas City man, as we understand the case, did not want a divorce merely because his wife smoked, but on account of what she smoked.

Europe's wine shortage this year is said to be the greatest for a century. Still there will no doubt be enough for us who buy it only for medicinal purposes.

A writer in the New York Medical Journal says whisky is not a cure for snake bite, but kindly refrains from expressing an opinion as to its suitability for fish bait.

Lily-White Record is Lost to County

1920

Along Comes Burglar and Spills the Precious Beans

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — The record of St. Clair County as a lily-white community has at last been broken. For seven years the residents of St. Clair, with a population of 17,000, boasted that not a single prisoner at the State penitentiary had been sent from the county. They pointed out their lack of representation in the institution was not due to laxity in the enforcement of the law, but to the law-abiding character of its citizens. Then along came Ivy Schuby.

Ivy forced an entrance into a dwelling and helped himself to the contents. It was burglary.

"Two years," said the judge.

And St. Clair County is no longer without representation.


Bitten by Ex-Prince's Dog

WIERENGEN, Holland. — A huge mastiff which the former Crown Prince Frederick William has adopted as a pet and which accompanies him on his daily strolls through this village, has been made the subject of an official complaint to the village council. Schoolmaster de Ruyter charged that the dog bit him, and wanted it declared a nuisance, but the petition apparently was tabled.

Crocodiles — Some Very Big Bites

1907

They Show the Power of the Jaws of the Crocodile

The power of the jaws of the crocodile is terrific, says Sir Samuel Baker in his book on wild beasts.

Once, he continues, he had the metal of a large hook the thickness of ordinary telegraph wire completely bent together, the barbed point being pressed tightly against the shank and rendered useless. This compression was caused by the snap of the jaws when seizing a live duck which he had used as a bait, the hook being fastened beneath one wing. On one occasion he found a fish weighing seventy pounds bitten clean through as if divided by a knife. This, again, was the work of the snap of the jaws of a crocodile.

A Frenchman, M. Paul Bert, once made experiments on the strength of a crocodile's jaws by means of a dynamometer. He found that a crocodile weighing 120 pounds exerted a force of 308 pounds in closing his jaws. The lion has an enormous jaw power. On one occasion an African traveler pushed the butt end of his gun into a lion's mouth, and the pressure of the jaws cracked it as though it had been struck by a steam hammer.

Horse Bites Tongue of Cow Thru Fence

1920

Farm Animals Get Into Dispute Over Bunch of Fodder

FREELING, Virginia, Feb. 26. — That the saying, "Truth is stranger than fiction," is true, was proved by an occurrence that took place near here. Henderson Mullins, a farmer of Cumberland Mountain, turned his horse out of the stable into a lot, giving him a bunch of stalk fodder, which was set against the fence that he might not trample it under foot. A cow from the opposite side of the fence began thrusting her tongue between the rails for the feed.

The horse viciously resented this intrusion by biting the tongue of the cow completely off.


School of Fish in Tender

Small Minnows Found Inside Rail Locomotive

OSAWATOMIE, Kansas, Feb. 26. — Water and fuel famines develop strange occurrences in railroading and occasionally require strenuous incidents to discover them. The which is by way of saying that J. E. Sturges, boilermaker foreman at the roundhouse here, discovered a school of small minnows in the tender of engine No. 125 the other day. The tender was brought into the shops for repairs after colliding with a coal car at Lane.

It is certain the fish had been in the tender for several weeks and that many of them had been dead for some time.

Mad Dog Scare — Bulldog Bits Cow, Not Found

Riverdale, Illinois, 1907

Brindle Bull Dog Bites Cow and then Disappears

Early Tuesday morning a brindle bull dog caused considerable excitement in Riverdale by biting a cow owned by Wm. Belz, corner Wabash Ave. and 138th St. The cow was tied in a pasture near the house when the dog approached evidently intending to sample some beef on the hoof. As near as we can learn the cow dissented, and defended herself with several dexterous movements of the left ulterior appendix. This caused the hungry canine to depart hence for new fields of adventure.

Mr. Belz who had witnessed the attack made haste to Chief Baumgartner's house — believing the dog was mad and should be shot. The Chief is a brave man, but armed himself with a double-barrel shotgun and revolver and a black jack and then proceeded to try and find the dog. It would have done a soldier's heart good to see Andy marching down the street. Having served his time in the German Army he knows just how to carry a gun. He searched every nook and corner of the village for a brindle bull dog but found none though he sighted several hundred dogs of other breeds and could have killed a dozen at a single fire of his gun.

Though the dog made his escape and it is hoped the cow will have no serious result from the bite, the village President and the board will hereafter enforce the village ordinances as regards the running of dogs at large without a muzzle.

—The Pointer, Riverdale, Illinois, June 28, 1907, p. 5.

Bulldog Takes a Bite Out of Crime

1922

DOG BITES CHIEF DETECTIVE

Walter Anderson Attacked by Bulldog When Making a Liquor Raid on North Fifteenth.

Walter Anderson, captain of Lincoln detectives, was bitten rather badly at 6 p. m. Friday by a large bulldog when he and other officers made a liquor raid on the house of Mrs. Ethel Brown, colored, 935 North Fifteenth street. Mrs. Brown was in the yard when an automobile carrying the police drove up, and she ran into the house. Detective Anderson ran after her, caught her and attempted to hold her. At that moment the bull dog rushed in and grabbed the calf of his leg. He pulled the dog off. Later the dog-catcher took it to the pound. One gallon of whiskey was secured.

In March another raid had been attempted on the same place. The dog was tied under a porch at the time and would let no one approach him.

Dr. R. L. Bentley, who dressed Anderson's wound, states that it will not be serious if infection does not set in.

—The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, June 18, 1922, page 2.

Cat Goes Mad, Needs to Have Head Examined

Pennsylvania, 1922

CAT GOES MAD AND BITES THREE PEOPLE

Three residents of Hawk Run, Mrs. R. R. Schnarrs, Paul Lafey, and Norman Haywood, a child, are receiving treatment in Philipsburg hospitals for serious bites and scratches received from a house cat which suddenly went "loco" and pounced upon the persons named, severely biting them before they could escape its furious attack.

Before the crazy animal was killed it is known to have bit a couple of dogs and is also thought to have attacked other dogs and cats in the community. It is thought the cat was suffering from rabies and its head has been sent to Harrisburg for examination.

—The Clearfield Progress, Clearfield, Pennsylvania, May 9, 1922, page 6.

Bites Wife's Cheek as Finish of Kiss

1920

Pulling Cave Man Stuff Lands Hubby in Workhouse

NEW YORK, N. Y. -- Cave man methods of kissing one's wife is no way for a modern husband to show conjugal affection, according to Magistrate Douras of the Essex Market Court. Saderio Anselino, 45, wa arrested on a warrant issued on the complaint of his wife, Nellie, who charged that Saderio had bitten a piece out of her cheek.

"What do you mean by biting your wife's cheek?" demanded Magistrate Douras of the defendant. "Do you think you are a cave man?"

"I love my wife," the defendant said, "and was only trying to kiss her."

"Thirty days in the workhouse," answered the magistrate.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 9.