"To Give The Dogs A Chance"

From the Brooklyn Eagle:

Thursday, May 23, 1889

The Citizens' Association of Bay Ridge, through its secretary, L.M. Lent, has asked the Board of Health to give owners of dogs found running at large twenty-four hours in which to reclaim their animals instead of permitting them to be shot on sight, as has heretofore been the rule. Last Summer some valuable dogs were shot upon very slight provocation.

Yikes! I love little snippets into what life was like for people in other eras.

One of my favorite sites is The Brooklyn Eagle. You can pick any random date and click around on articles (which is how I came across this gem), or you can search for terms. Searching for the names of my relatives, I came across a number of items that referred to my relatives at the early part of the century. That only works for one side of the family - the sides with unpronounceable Italian names and the side full of names like John Smith are less promising.