Sunday, January 27, 2019

While Tending 10 Family Members With Flu, Mr. Pollard Bitten When Mad Dog Gets In House, Jan. 27, 1919

From The Hickory Daily Record, Jan. 27, 1919. The dogs are mad because they have rabies, which is fatal to dogs and to any humans they bite. The Pasteur treatment, developed by Louis Pasteur in 1885, involved a painful series of injections of weakened rabies virus from rabbits. If you want to learn more about the vaccine, check out the story at https://www.the-scientist.com/foundations/the-rabies-vaccine-backstory-33441

Pollard Bitten by Mad Dog on Leg

Mr. W.S. Pollard was bitten on the leg just above the angle by a supposedly mad dog, which rushed through the screen door of Mr. J.E. Pollard’s home two miles south of Hickory Saturday night, and gave battle to Mr. Pollard who was nursing the sick. The animal sank his fangs into Mr. Pollard’s leg, and he left Sunday at noon for Raleigh to take the Pasteur treatment. Chief Lentz expressed the dog’s head to Raleigh.

Mr. Pollard was nursing his brother’s family, 10 of whom are down with influenza, when he was attacked by the dog. It was at 9 o’clock when the strange dog, a black female hound, jumped on a young canine on the back porch. Mr. Pollard and his nephew ran to see what the trouble was, the younger man carrying a lantern and Mr. Pollard a lamp. As Mr. Pollard reached the door and opened it, the hound came through and he commanded her to leave, at the same time crying ‘mad dog’ so that the others in the house would not be injured.

The visitor promptly gave battle and succeeded in tearing the trousers off one leg and in sinking her ugly fangs into Mr. Pollard’s ankle. With one foot on the dog’s head and grabbing the hind legs, Mr. Pollard killed her with a stick. The puppy was bitten and was also killed.

Sunday afternoon Chief Lentz killed a strange dog after it had attacked Dr. R.P. Wilson. The veterinarian was fighting the canine off with a stick.
It is not known how many dogs have been bitten in this section by rabid animals and there is every reason to believe that more dogs will go mad.

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