A handwritten receipt shared last week on social media by the Chattooga County Historical Society provides a fascinating glimpse into law enforcement in Chattooga County more than a century ago — and connects with one of the county’s most dramatic crimes of the era.
The document is a sheriff’s voucher from 1914 associated with Chattooga County Sheriff M.W. Wimpee. Among the expenses listed is the cost of keeping and maintaining a bloodhound dog from June 17 through August 17, 1914.
The county was charged 25 cents per day for 62 days, bringing the total bill for keeping the dog to $15.50.
The bloodhound is an especially interesting part of the record because tracking dogs had played an important role earlier that year in the investigation of the Bank of Lyerly robbery.