Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 12 August 1932

Dog to Die

Alsatian’s Attack on Houghton Boy

Horace Austin, of Middlecliffe, was charged at Barnsley on Wednesday with having a dangerous dog, a black Alsatian.

Supt. Varley said that on the 97th July a boy named Harry Halpine, aged 9, was playing in front of his home, 11, Mary Street, Great Houghton, when the dog rushed at him and bit him twice on the right side of the chest. Austin rushed at the dog and drove it away.

Halpine said the dog “went for him” without provocation. Austin beat it off by whipping it.

Lily Halpine, the boy’s mother, said the child came home and showed her where the dog had bitten him. Both wounds were bleeding.

Austin denied that the wounds were bleeding and said they were not bites at all.

The Chairman (Mr. T. Norton) said the majority of the magistrates were of opinion that the dog was dangerous, and they ordered that it should be destroyed.

Austin: You can destroy me before you destroy my dog.