Even prison guards could get themselves suspended at Sing Sing, especially when the guard in question had four legs, a shaggy coat, and a habit of throwing his weight around.
In 1924, the famous New York prison had an unusual problem on its hands. “Collie,” the large dog belonging to Warden Lewis E. Lawes, served as an outer guardian of the prison property. He was supposed to help keep order around the grounds, and by all appearances, he took the job seriously.
Too seriously, perhaps.
While Warden Lawes was away, complaints began to come in from some of the older inmates. Collie, they said, had been slipping into the prison grounds and making a nuisance of himself among the smaller dogs owned by prisoners.
Rather than behaving like a disciplined guard, the big dog had reportedly become a bully, chasing, tormenting, and mistreating the lesser canines within the enclosure.
The complaints were serious enough that Warden Lawes took action. Collie was suspended from duty and barred from entering the prison enclosure.
Collie could return to his post only after he learned that authority came with restraint.
Sing Sing Guard Dog is Banished as a Bully
NEW YORK. — Truculence has caused the suspension of one of Sing Sing’s guards.
The offender is “Collie,” the huge, shaggy canine, pet of Warden Lawes and official outer guardian of the prison property. Not only has he been suspended from duty, but he has been denied admission to the prison enclosure as well.
The action of Warden Lawes followed a multiplicity of complaints from old time prisoners that during his absence, “Collie” repeatedly entered the prison grounds and bullied and maltreated the smaller dogs owned by inmates.
Warden Lawes said yesterday that the suspension will last until “Collie” has learned to combine kindness with discipline.
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. September 15, 1924.
