by Laurel | April 1st, 2013
02 April 1926
Big Campaign on — Five Shots to Dog — Palmer Mountain Stock For Prize
Holyoke, April 1, 1926 — Announcement was made today that the newly-formed Revolver Club would have the first actual revolver tests in eliminating the unlicensed dogs of the city. There are about 1100 dogs in the city and only 267 have been licensed. It is figured that the Holyoke Revolver Club would get excellent practice in revolver work, being careful, of course, to distinguish the dogs from the rest of the landscape and that there are no human beings in the line of fire.
The plan is to have a license investigating committee who will tie the large red choker on the dogs that are not licensed, they are also serving to guide the marksmen. All dogs not licensed can be shot at five times. In case they survive the fifth shot, a second committee, to be know as the exonerating committee, will tie a white choker around the dog’s neck and he will cease to be a target.
Prizes will be awarded to the most successful members of the club as follows: First class prizes, consisting of five shares of the Century Machinery Company to the marksman who eliminated five or more dogs; second class prizes consisting of five shares of the New England Tire and Rubber Company , to those who bring down three dogs, and third class prizes, 10 shares of Palmer Mountain stock to the marksman who brings down one dog.
The prizes will be conferred on the 31st by President Calvin Coolidge who will stop over for that purpose on his way to Vermont for a brief visit.
Adapted from The Springfield Republican.
[Note: Given the date, I tried to find out more about this event. No success in confirming the story. No other mention of the Revolver Club nor hunting the unlicensed dog. It just seems too bizarre to be true, and yet it was printed in the paper.]