Vengeance at the Dog Show
A Fox Island rancher executes a bloodhound on the streets of Tacoma to avenge his wife's previous injury.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Seeking revenge for the injuries to his wife, who was severely bitten by 'Don,' a huge Siberian bloodhound, several weeks ago, Philip Brautigan, a Fox Island rancher, lay in wait near the entrance to the dog show at South Eleventh and Yakima Avenue this morning, and shot the valuable canine as it was being led to the building by J. A. Mitchell, its owner. Brautigan waited behind a telephone pole at the corner, and when Mitchell came opposite him, he stepped out to the center of the sidewalk with a .44 caliber revolver and fired point-blank at the dog's head, felling it instantly. Brautigan then pointed the weapon at Mitchell's head, shouting, 'Hold up your hands and back away from that dog, or I'll fix you, too.' After Mitchell complied, the rancher forced his way through the gathering crowd, walked to the courthouse, and surrendered to the sheriff. He was later released on $200 bail. Brautigan previously sued Mitchell in police court, but the case was dismissed on a technicality. The dog's death has become a major local event, as the animal's prior behavior had sparked a city-wide debate over dog regulations.
“His place in history is now secure... it isn't every dog that can arouse the whole town.”
Public safety and aggressive dog ownership remain a consistent point of civic friction in Tacoma. This 1909 incident illustrates how disputes over animal control were often settled with vigilante violence rather than the modern administrative ordinances that resulted from this very case.
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