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.
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He died a lingering death in November 1865 after being kicked by a drunk, Henry Rippey. Bummer was still popular enough that, to avoid violence, the city immediately arrested Rippey. He also did not escape popular justice: on learning of his crime, his cellmate, David Popley, “popped him in the smeller”.
In Los Angeles in the 1840s, dogs outnumbered people by nearly two to one
Explains all those old-time “dog-catcher” jokes.
