Make My Day Dog Protection Story - Page 1

Some excerpts from a New York Times article:
 
BOY'S TWO COLLIES CONQUER A BURGLAR
 
Son Releases Them as Father Is Battling With Intruder in House.
 
SUSPECT BITTEN AND TORN
 
Elevator Operator Thwarts Robbing of Woman’s Apartment and Loot is Restored.

An apartment elevator [operator] and two collies, loosed by a fifteen-year-old boy, were used to catch and subdue a burglar suspect in an apartment house . . .
 
Frank Elliott, an elevator operator, . . . noticed that the door of an apartment occupied by Mrs. Netty Straus was ajar. He knew that Mrs. Strauss was out, so he stopped the car and waited. . . . He saw a man carrying two suitcases emerge from the Strauss apartment and start down stairs. . . .
 
[Elliott] jumped out, heading off the intruder, who dropped the suitcases and pulled out a “jimmy.” The elevator man cried for help and leaped at the intruder, who started to flee upstairs, but turned suddenly and attacked Elliott with the “jimmy” . . . The intruder broke Elliot’s hold, and was about to hit him with the “jimmy” when the two collies grabbed him.
 
Frank Elliott Jr., son of the elevator man, had heard his father call and rushed to the basement, where the two collies were kept. When the dogs, loosed, heard their master’s cries, they sprang to his aid. One of them sank his teeth in the suspect’s leg and the other jumped at his throat. . . . The boy, Frank, was just preparing to jump into the fight, but [Mrs. Strauss arrived and] told him to run for the police.
 
When Patrolman Timothy O’Neill . . . arrived, the burgler suspect had given up. His clothing was torn to shreds and his face and body were a mass of bruises and scratches.
 
[At the police station,] Mrs. Strauss identified all of the [suitcase] contents . . . as hers.
 

Great story!  Thanks for sharing!

Now here’s the rest of the story—the article is dated February 20, 1922.
 
Can you imagine what would happen today?
 
Animal control would immediately seize the Collies as “dangerous dogs” and kill them.
 
Legislators would pass laws banning Collies as a “dangerous breed.”
 
The apartment complex would fire the elevator operator.
 
The burglar would sue the apartment complex and the elevator operator.
 
The elevator operator and his son would be arrested for assault.
 
The burglar would not be charged and the media would wail all over him in sympathy.  
The “good old days” get exaggerated a lot, but there were some advantages.
 
Here’s where the article came from:
 
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B01E5D71E30EE3ABC4851DFB4668389639EDE
 
Happy New Year, folks!
 

I liked this good old days story better then the ones us old timers used to hear from our parents;
You know, the ones where they had to walk to school, uphill both ways, WITH holes intheir shoes.lol
But,back in the day, dogs really COULD be heroes.
Now, as you stated, their owners get sued, and the dog PTS.

LOL Kitkat, my parents had to walk to school, uphill both ways, barefoot.

In the snow.

  JonRob, you forgot to mention that the burglar would of won a multi - million dollar judgment against the building owner!