A case came up at Justice Harris's court, at Downieville, a short time ago,
in which the sagacity of a bull-dog was shown to be but little short of
reason. The whole facts of the case, as elicited by the trial, are given
by the messenger, as follows:
A butcher residing at Goodyear's bar owned one of the ordinary breed of
bull dogs, and in plying his vocation had occasion to go to Rock Creek with
a mule load of meat; his dog, contrary to his usual custom, followed him.
While at the creek the dog, which had been trained to catch sheep and hogs,
caught a goat by the tail and held it until his master came and took him
off. The owners of the goat, seeing the attack, hurried out with guns to
kill the dog, which his mas ter in vain tried to prevent, by first offering
them all the money he had, and finding that of no avail, he offered his
money, meat and mule for the life of the dog, besides paying for the goat,
that was but slightly injured. They would listen to nothing, however, and
continued firing until they had killed the dog. The butcher brought suit
to recover damages, and in the progress of the trial told the following
story to show why he was so much attached to the dog. He said that some
years since, while travelling on the plains, he left his dog to guard his
wagon and went out to hunt; he became lost, and wandered about until he
was scarcely able to stand. On the fifth day he had given up all hopes of
rescue, and had lain down to die. Some time during the day the dog came
to him, having tracked him through all his wanderings. When the dog reached
him he was so weak as to be barely able to stand, and felt that without
something to eat he could never hope to reach his wagon. The dog appeared
to have come to the same conclusion, for, after staying
with him a short time, licking his hands and face, he started off, caught
a rabbit, and caught it and laid it by his master, who, after eating some
of it, felt strength enough to attempt to reach his camp, to which his dog
led him This it was that made him value the dog so highly. There being no
evidence introduced to show that the dog was worth over $33, the Justice
assessed the damage at that figure, though to all appearances he felt as
though he would have liked to have made it four times that amount. We felt
a little for the defendants because they did not get justice; but it could
not be avoided, however, as the court had no power to hang either of them.
