Madness

At Burgas, Bulgaria, 123 gypsies dug out of the ground a cow that had been buried because it had died of rabies. The gypsies ate the cow. Already 20 of them have died in convulsions, rabid.

On the train between Philippopolis and Sofia, Bulgaria, peasants with bulgy eyes and strained expressions are no rarity. Last week on the train such a one suddenly leaped at other third-class passengers, ripped their flesh with his black teeth, jerked his arms a few times, and died--of rabies.

In Oregon Stanley Jewett, predatory animal director for the U. S. biological survey, last week sent out four official hunters to kill off coyotes, which have been biting and infecting live stock with rabies. At Bear Valley, Ore., Raymond Vancil's horse, a grass-eater, suddenly tried to bite his master's leg, then dashed through three wire fences, before the man could rope, throw and kill it. Near Izee, Ore., Elmer Angell's cow, gone mad, chased him off his hay wagon and into his house.

Pittsburgh officials, frightened at the appearance of rabies in their district, have devised an efficient method of killing stray dogs. Three motorized wagons patrol the streets. Each wagon has an air-tight box into which the poisonous exhaust gases of the motor enter. Whenever the dog-catcher on the driver's seat sights an unmuzzled dog unattended by a human, he tries to snare it. If he does catch the dog, he heaves it into the suffocating box and soon the live dog is a dead dog.