Rabies used to be called Hydrophobia due to the intense aversion to water victims suffer once the disease takes hold. When I got to the end of this article and added up the toll of animal and human victims of these dogs I was horrified, 17 people and around 55 dogs in just two incidents.
The suffering the victims of rabies endure before death is utterly dreadful and this article tells me of a multitude of children that may meet that terrible end. I found articles detailing the decline of children bitten by rabid dogs, and, although the preemptive killing all of the animal victims of these attacks sounds a little heartless it is really an act of mercy.
Rabies can remain in the body for many years before manifesting symptoms, so some of these poor children could have become sick in their teens. I wonder how many of these human victims developed rabies themselves? How many other dogs were bitten, slinking off to lick their wounds unnoticed, this event being repeated in the coming days or weeks?
Interesting that at 7 o’clock in the morning the majority of people in the streets were children running errands. Quite different from mornings now. 7am is parents going to work and kids moaning about getting out of bed!
The first incident described in this article describes the corner of North Avenue and Clyborne as the city limits in 1874, and the dog running out onto the prairie once the police officer gave chase. I have never been to Chicago but google maps shows me that in 2011 this corner is quite a distance from anything resembling a prairie!
