Bummer and Lazarus

Bummer and Lazarus were two stray dogs that roamed the streets of San Francisco, California, United States, in the early 1860s. Recognized for their unique bond and their prodigious rat-killing ability, they became a fixture of city newspapers, were exempted from local ordinances, and immortalized in cartoons.

San Francisco, in common with other cities in the United States at the time, had a problem with free-ranging dogs. In Los Angeles in the 1840s, dogs outnumbered people by nearly two to one, and while the situation in San Francisco had not reached this extreme, the large numbers of strays and feral dogs did cause problems. Dogs were regularly poisoned or trapped and killed. Nevertheless, if a dog turned out to be a good ratter or distinguished itself in some other way, it was still possible for it to survive.

Bummer was a black-and-white Newfoundland or Newfoundland cross who established himself outside the saloon of Frederick Martin in 1860 and quickly proved to be an exceptional rat-killer. His ratting talent spared him the fate of the former owner of the territory, Bruno, who had been poisoned with strychnine shortly before Bummer's arrival. He scraped a living begging scraps from passers-by and the patrons of the saloon and other establishments along Montgomery Street.

In 1861 Bummer rescued another dog from a fight with a larger canine opponent. The rescued dog was badly injured, with a deep wound on his leg, and was not expected to live. Bummer coaxed him to eat, brought back scraps from his scavenging missions and huddled next to him to keep him warm during the night. The injured dog quickly recovered and within days was following Bummer as he made his begging rounds in the streets. His remarkable recovery earned him the name Lazarus, and he proved to be an even more prodigious ratter than Bummer. As a team they turned out to be exceptional, once finishing off 85 rats in 20 minutes.

Their ratting talent and unique bond was seized upon by the city's press. Martin's saloon was a favorite haunt of newspapermen and journalists, so, with the dogs a fixture outside the bar, they never had to travel far for a story. The exploits of the dogs were recorded in detail in the Californian, Daily Alta California, Daily Morning Call, and Daily Evening Bulletin, the editors vying with each other in their attempts to endow the pair's adventures with thrills and parallels to the human condition. Bummer was portrayed as the gentleman down on his luck, yet still faithful and conscientious, while Lazarus, the mongrel, was cast in the role of the sly and self-serving fair-weather friend. When Bummer was shot in the leg after only a couple of months, and Lazarus left him to run with another dog, it suited the press no end: Bummer was said to be feeling the sting of ingratitude at the desertion of the cur he had saved from death. Lazarus' return when Bummer recovered only added to the excitement.

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