![]() ![]() Three or four days ago, a poor, lean, mangy cur was attacked in the street by a larger dog, and was getting unmercifully walloped when Bummer’s ire being aroused at the unequal contest, he rushed in and gave the attacking canine such a rough handling that he was glad to quit the field yelping … Every night since that, the two dogs have slept coiled up together, close to some doorway-Bummer always giving the lame cur the inside berth, and trying to keep him as warm as possible. 18, 1861, Bummer and Lazarus made their first appearance in the Daily Alta together: Witnessing the friendship form, the reporters at Martin & Horton’s were rapt. Lazarus was described in one paper as “part hound, part terrier and a good many parts of several other varieties.” In another, he was merely “a sleek, half-starved mongrel.” After Bummer rescued Lazarus from an attack by a bigger dog, the pair became fast and inseparable associates. These journalists would go on to make Bummer famous across the city-but only after he took up with his less streetwise pal, Lazarus. It was also frequented by the many reporters who worked in nearby newspaper offices. The saloon at 534 Montgomery, at the corner of Clay, was owned by Frederick Martin and renowned for the cheapness of its liquor. He was understood to be uncommonly intelligent and was particularly popular at Martin & Horton’s. He earned his name by patrolling businesses up and down Montgomery Street and begging for scraps on a set schedule. By some miracle, out of the anti-canine maelstrom emerged a puppy pair that the city actually wanted to root for: Bummer and Lazarus.īummer was a black and white Newfoundland mix with ears that had been cropped unevenly. It was a dark time for the dogs of San Francisco-well, most of them anyway. The dogs that outsmarted the catcher weren’t much better off-their human neighbors were not averse to leaving poisoned meat scraps on the street to fell their numbers. The impounded pups were released only when a human companion forked over $5 (roughly $142 in 2022 money). Dogs that had neither leash nor muzzle could be shot on sight by police officers, or else locked up in the pound by the local dogcatcher. 1856) that banned canines anywhere north of Ninth Street and east of Larkin. An ordinance was passed by the Board of Supervisors (est. Two years after that report, the city took brutal measures to prevent the dog population from getting any larger. Sometimes at night, their howling is enough to drive one distracted.” In April 1860, the Daily Alta California reported: “We never knew a city in America so used with the canine nuisance as San Francisco. But they were an often-troublesome addition to city streets that were already wild by anyone’s standards. The dogs were as determined to survive as the locals who fed them scraps when there was meat to share. Teams of snarling, scrapping mutts roamed the city untethered and reproducing faster than humans could handle. Old Rush San Francisco had a stray dog problem. ![]()
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