First Bloodhounds Used to Find a Serial Killer

WHEN WERE THE FIRST BLOODHOUNDS CALLED UPON TO FIND A SERIAL KILLER?

In October 1888, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London made an inquiry Mr. Edwin Brough, of Wyndyate, near Scarborough, as to using his two bloodhounds, Baraby and Burgoh, for tracking in the case of Jack the Ripper. As illustrated in the newspaper article below, the dogs were brought to London for a test where they performed adequately. It was decided to wait for another murder to occur before bringing in the bloodhounds. The murder of Mary Ann Kelly, later in October, prompted the police to call on Mr. Brough for his dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs were away at a dog show and were unavailable.

The Illustrated London News published an article on the bloodhound trials on October 20th, 1888.

“Sir Charles Warren, the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, on Tuesday. Oct. 9, witnessed in the park a private trial of two bloodhounds, the property of Mr. Edwin Brough, of Wyndyate, near Scarborough. The idea of using bloodhounds was not Sir Charles Warren’s but, rather, it had been suggested to him by the Home Office.
Warren was sceptical that bloodhounds could be of any use in the hunt for the killer and questioned how dogs could be expected to trace the killer without either a piece of his clothing or a sample of his blood from which to acquire his scent?
Furthermore, he argued, even if they had the aforementioned items to go on, how effective would their sense of smell be on streets and pavements that hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people might have been walking on all night long?
His reservations not withstanding, he did agree to hold trials to test the effectiveness of the dogs and, it must be said, he was sufficiently impressed with the results to give orders that, in the event of any further murder, the body must not be touched until bloodhounds could be brought and put on the scent of the killer.
This is one of the reasons why there was a delay at the scene of Mary Kelly’s murder, between the time when the police actually arrived at the scene, and the time at which they went into her room at 13 Miller’s Court.”

Source: The Bloodhounds. From The Illustrated London News, 20th October 1888. Copyright, The British Library Board. As recounted in DETECTIVE BLOODHOUNDS. Posted on March 7, 2017 by Richard Jones. As retrieved from https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/detective-bloodhounds/ 02252025