Poisoning Must Stop
Ninth-Ward People Highly Indignant Over This Malicious Work
– Eau Claire Weekly Telegram | Dec. 8, 1905

A Ninth Ward resident writes that George Meriman’s shepherd dog and Chas Benner’s valuable water spaniel and other dogs and cats in the Ninth Ward have been poisoned; that two persons are suspected of having “gone into the business of poisoning dogs and cats;” that “they can’t compete for the president’s prize who is a great advocate of children and domestic animals; and are too morally depraved to keep domestic animals or too stingy to pay a dog tax and are jealous of their neighbors who do.”

Chad's Take: The article had potential

I really thought this article had some great potential. It started with the bizarre accusation that someone was poisoning dogs and cats in the Ninth Ward of Eau Claire. At this point I was all ears and ready to find out just who was behind these terrible acts, then the article went completely berserk. The writer lost me when they brought up plots of jealously over an animal tax and the competition for the president’s prize. By the end of the short article I had absolutely no idea what was causing the deaths of the animals.  If you did follow this story and want to do some community animal protection patrols of the Ninth Ward, it mostly includes the area surrounding Luther Hospital.

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