MAD DOG SCARE
By Mary Anderson-Boyd
| There was a time when a mad dog came through the countryside
and bit several dogs. One of the dogs was our neighbor's dog, a big
gray hound. Our neighbor was named Bute Jenkins. One of the
Jenkins called my Mom, Ella Sanders-Anderson, and told her that the gray
hound had been bitten and had gone mad and was headed our way. Mom
called my Brother Howard and me, (Mary Anderson-Boyd) to come to the house
quick. A mad dog was on its way. We climbed up and on to, Dad,
Jim Anderson's, tool box, which was very high. Mom finally had to
come out with a switch to get us down and bring us into the house.
It was just in time to as the big gray hound passed on the North side of
our house. We were really scared. It bit our dogs and one of
them went mad. It started to kill chickens and Dad had to shoot him
and the other dog too. One of the dogs bit a cousin of ours several
times. Her name was Ethel Jenkins. She had to be taken for
mad dog treatment. It was called, (taken to a madstone) to get the
poison out of the bites. The stone is found in the head of a deer.
It must have worked because she lived a long time and passed away about
3 years ago, around the year 2000.
While in school one day, a neighbor came riding up on horseback. He came to tell the teacher that a mad dog was headed that way and not to let the kids out to play. When school was over and it was time to walk home, down the bluff road, we walked on top of the bluff and not the road. When we were almost home, one of the kid’s dad came by in his car. He hollered to us. We were all up a tree as we had seen a dog coming up the road. I was about 6 years old and my cousin helped me up on a limb that was not very far off of the ground. We were all over the tree like a flock of birds, half scared to death. We all got home OK because our Uncle Bill took each one of us home, in his car. |
© Mary Anderson-Boyd 2003