A recent dispatch from an Indiana town says:
Jeff Clarke, a farmer of Wabash township, owns a mule that plays
the part of an alarm-clock every morning with such regularity
that Clarke has about discarded the little alarm-clock that
hangs on the bed-post and firmly refuses to part with the animal.
Promptly at 4 o’clock this mule kicks the side of the barn four
times in succession. At first Clarke thought the animal was ill,
and for several mornings he got up and investigated. He took
note, however, that the gong of the alarm-clock started buzzing
when the mule started kicking.
He put two and two together, and reached the conclusion that the
mule knows the hour when the Clarke household should arise and
begin the day’s work.
(97)
* * * * *
The criminal classes of Moscow, Russia, are beginning to believe
that the police dog “Tref” is possest of an evil spirit.
It was rumored recently, in the night shelters and criminal
dens of Moscow, that “Tref” and his keeper were on the track of
certain robbers, and were about to scour the town.
It transpired that a number of bank-notes and other valuables
had been stolen from a Moscow gentleman named Pokrofsky.
“Tref’s” services were immediately requisitioned. He was put on
the scent of the thief, and, after taking a circuitous course,
entered a night shelter and made straight for an old coat
belonging to a house-painter who was known under the name of
Alexander. The sum of five hundred rubles, which had been stolen
from M. Pokrofsky, was found in one of the pockets of the coat.
“Tref” then left the night shelter, and, still hot on the scent,
went to the shop of a second-hand dealer named Gussef, and
here a number of silver articles stolen from M. Pokrofsky were
discovered. A cabman drove up at this time, and complained that
he had just been robbed of a fur coat and an ordinary overcoat.
“Tref” was at once taken to the scene of the theft, and within a
few minutes found the clothing concealed in the courtyard of a
neighboring house.--Philadelphia _Record_.
(98)
See CONVICTION THROUGH A MONKEY; DIRECTION; INSTINCT, THE HOMING.
=Animal Instinct=--See FAITH BETTER THAN SIGHT.
=Animal Retaliation=--See ANGER, FUTILE.