Jefferson County AlArchives News.....Man Hunters 1886
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Elizabeth Crauswell Verchio borninalabama@comcast.net July 17, 2011, 7:36 pm

Nashville American 1886
TRAITS OF THE MAN HUNTERS.
The Master of the Bloodhound aand His Wonderful Convict Catcher*.
"Wynton, allow me to introduce my friend E. O. Crauswell, who is the keeper
of the dogs at Pratt Mines, Ala., and who has the only pack of genuine 
bloodhounds in the south."
The speaker was L. W. Johns, the mining engineer. Mr. Crauswell advanced
and extended his hand to your correspondent.  He was heavily built, six feet 
eight inches tall, of florid complexion, and wore a wide brim slouch hat. His 
feet were encased in high-topped boots, in which his pants were stuffed. His 
coat was worn open in front, showing an immaculate shirt of snowy whiteness, 
on the bosom of which, half hidden in the ruffles, glistened a large diamond. 
He had the appearance of a desperado, but he was genial and frank and an 
interesting talker, with a voice as soft as a woman's, and with, actions as 
timid as a girl's.
In 1883 he came to this place and began to train bloodhounds.  He brought to 
the mines five famous dogs that had been owned by his father, among which were 
Fannie and Bucker, the two famous man-hunters of the south.  The dogs are kept 
in a kennel in the stockade enclosure and are nursed and fed by their master 
as tenderly as children.  Their food consists of bread and raw beef.
The animals, when three months old, are put through a course of training.  A 
trusty convict is started off on a run with the dog at his heels, and runs a 
short distance.  A run of five minutes is taken, and it is increased until the 
dog can trail well at a start of thirty hours on him.  The  dogs are not 
difficult to train; the only difficulty is to keep them from changing tracks, 
which is, in dog pariance, to put a dog on the track of a man and his sticking 
to it without changing even if other tracks cross it.  Fannie will never give 
her tongue to any other but the first track she took, even if 100 persons were 
to cross it. She will follow the track to its end, and, if she does not find 
the man, she will stop and return home.

When a convict escapes, a general alarm is sounded, and the dogs are ready. 
They are taken to the place where the escaped convict was last seen.  
Crauswell mounts his fast horse, and the dogs are let loose. Each dog circles 
for a track and begins to hunt.  Every one goes to work for the trail, like as 
many human detectives.  When the trail is found the dog who discovers it makes 
a signal and every other animal follows.  Fannie and Bucker always take the 
lead from any other dog. Crauswell and horse follow at full speed, and the 
longer the chase the more interesting it grows.
The longest trail this man and his man-hunters ever had was in March, 1884, 
when a negro escaped from the shaft prison.  He had gone forty mile and had 
been away about twenty-eight hours. The dods had trouble to catch his scent 
after such a time.  The negro took an astonishing run and went about ten miles 
through water.  He was found at last on top of an old house on the mountain 
near Warrior river.  He was half starved when captured.
Crauswell was asked to speak of some of the characteristics of his dogs. "I am 
convinced," said he, "beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the bloodhound has 
more than mere instinct.  I believe that they think and reason like human 
beings.  I know that Fannie and Bucker do.  The dogs are docile in camps and 
very vicious on the trail.  Their sense follows the movements of men. There is 
no trouble to get them to take the track when they find it.
"After a convict is captured the dogs return satisfied, and as happy as if 
they had caught a rabbit.  When they return to the prison they become 
perfectly docile; when called out again they grow very excited. The affection 
of the dogs for me is more like that of a child to its father than anything 
else I can describe.  I feed them myself and they have great confidance in 
me.  I have five fine puppies, 4 months old, that have fur on them like sheep, 
which are now ready to track a man to the depths of hell, if he could travel 
there, and as for hiding a trail, it is an impossibility.  I am raising them 
for sale, and I guarantee them to find a trail thirty-six hours old.."  
Nashville America.

Additional Comments:
Also carried in: Manitoba Daily Free Press, Winnipeg, Thursday March 18, 
1888,  The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, 13 Apr 1886, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Page 
2, Daily Picayune, New Orleans.

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