Description:A newspaper cutting from the Birmingham Mail, January 20th 1897.
This is the first in a series of news reports dealing with a suspected outbreak of Rabies In Perry Barr.
A collie was seen running madly through Aldridge and Perry Barr. It later entered a field in Perry Village were it attacked a flock of sheep. The sheep dogs attacked the intruder and it then turned on the shepherd and "bit him severely. Thereupon Conolen, who is a powerfully built Irishman, picked up a bar of Iron which fortunatly lay near, and dealt the dog a blow instantly killing it".
The sheep dogs were later destroyed and the shepherd, whose name was in fact John Donelon, was sent for treatment at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. His treatment being payed for by a local subscription headed by General Calthorpe of Perry Hall.
Later articles report on the succesful treatment of John Donelon and there seems to be no real evidence that this was in fact a case of Rabies
Taken from the G.H.Osborne newscuttings collection.