Mountain Breeze: Ode to my grandfather and his dog Virginia

My grandfather James Clifford Kiefer Thomas was born in 1896 in Point of Rocks, Maryland to a Virginia girl Pearl Allen of Bedford and Notley Bruce Thomas of Maryland. The marriage did not last in a time when marriages lasted even if they needed to end in divorce. But that is a story for another day.

My grandfather was featured in the 1928 Roanoke City Police Review which covered a five year period from 1923 to 1928. There are many family stories of his exploits with his bloodhounds even some in Botetourt County, but also all over the state and surrounding states. He became Game Warden of Roanoke County and supplied my Dad, the baby of the family, with everything from a spider monkey named “Charlie” to a Great Horned Owl.

But this is the write-up in the 1928 Review. Credit to my cousin Susan Dixon for keeping it after her mother passed and giving it to me for Christmas. I love the writing style. Totes to the 1928 writer whomever it may have been, they are long gone now.

The Man Hunter:

The Police Department alone is not wholly responsible for the capture of every murderer, arson fiend, burglar, escaped prisoner or thief.

“Virginia” the bloodhound known to many Roanokers and police departments all over the state, and the property of Cliff K. Thomas, has often been the sole means of bringing about the arrest of criminals. The reputation of the dog is known in several neighboring states and her services are nearly always in demand.

Recently Cliff and his dog were called to Hagerstown, Maryland to trail a man who had shot and seriously wounded a railroad detective. After following the trail for a day and a night, the assailant was found in the home and taken into custody credited to her skillful work.

“Virginia” has been in service for six years, having caught her first victim in 1922 when Thomas trailed a robber from an East Campbell Avenue establishment in ” Pot Liquor Flats.” Mr. Thomas who is considered an apt trainer, has been engaged in this work for 14 years, having received his training from E. F. Loyd who followed this line of endeavor for years. At present, Mr. Thomas has a pup in training and the method of schooling is very interesting. In preparing a dog for the life of a criminal detector, the first stages are very difficult. A stranger usually plays a larger part, that of abusing the dog by whipping it when tied. The stranger then goes into hiding and the dog, turned loose, seldom fails to find its quarry. A bloodhound is playful and of the petting variety until loosed on the trail, then becomes vicious. “Virginia” is known to nearly every man on the local police force, but none dares cross her path when she is ” taking the trail” of a criminal. ## END

Unorthodox training in modern minds and almost a hundred years later it would get you on the 6 o’clock news. But the stories of “Virginia” and her descendants thrive in my memory as dogs otherwise living the life of family pets and held in a place of honor to my late Dad and all of his siblings.