Council Bars Bull Dogs
Daily Illini (University of Illinois)
January 25, 1906

Council Bars Bull Dogs
A Rule is Passed Forbidding Them on the Campus
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This Action of the Council is Taken as the Result of Several Exhibitions of Viciousness on the Part of the Animals
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January 25, 1906 — The University Council Tuesday evening practically eliminated bull dogs as a feature of student life, when it formulated a rule forbidding them presence of these dogs at any time on the campus. It was also decided to ask students not keep these dogs and arrangements were made to petition the city councils of Urbana and Champaign to exclude the animals from the two cities. If such action was not considered legal, it was suggested that steps be taken to keep the animals off the streets.
The action of the council came as the results of several recent exhibitions of viciousness on the part of the bull dogs. Mrs. Laura Riley, a colored domestic at the Delta Upsilon house, is still in the hospital as the result of an attack by one of these dogs. Dr. C.G. Hopkins was the victim of an attack by one of these pets, while another was detected in the act of killing a pig on the University Farm… – Daily Illini

Council Bars Bull Dogs
Daily Illini (University of Illinois)
January 26, 1906

Council Bars Bull Dogs
An Order Passed for Janitors and Policemen to Impound Stray Dogs
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January 26, 1906 — At a meeting of the Council of Administration of the University, help January 23rd (1906), the following resolution was unanimously adopted:
RESOLVED; by the Council of Administration that bull-dogs shall not be allowed on the University grounds, and that the city councils of Champaign and Urbana be petitioned to each pass an ordinance prohibiting their being kept within the city limits …
The reasons for the Resolution are in general as follows:
1. The bull-dog is essentially a dangerous animal, and when kept under present conditions it constitutes a perpetual menace to human life. Enough accidents have already happened to admonish all thinking men that women and children are entirely unsafe under present conditions.
2. These conditions will become even worse when these bull-dogs will have bred with the street curs, producing a generation of mongrels even more dangerous and under less restraint than are the pure bred individuals. – Daily Illini

Bull-Dogs
Daily Illini (University of Illinois)
January 27, 1906

Bull-Dogs
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January 27, 1906 — The Question of bull-dogs has come to be of considerable importance within the last few days, for even the Council of Administration has seen fit to take action regarding them. By this action the ban has been put upon the canines by the University authorities, and if the letter of the resolutions is followed out, there will be no more bull-dogs in Champaign and Urbana.
The accidents which have occurred within a very short time have tended to show the dangerous of having such dogs around, hence the action of the Council. There is no doubt but what these dogs are more vicious than any other species, and the council has probably worked in the interests of the people at large by putting on the ban, although it may work hardship upon some who own these dogs as pets and have become attached to them. We are all interested in the welfare of all members of the University community and are willing to do all in our power to make things as safe as possible. If bull-dogs are unsafe and vicious, as they seem to have proven themselves with the last few weeks, let us get rid of them. Let us get some other kind of dogs. Safety before bull-dogs. – Daily Illini

See modern Illinois pit bull issues at: Pit Bull Attacks and Dogfighting in Illinois.

Related articles:
1911: Call to Ban Pit ‘Bulldogs’ in District of Columbia
1911: The City of Ogden, Utah Has a ‘Bulldog’ Ban in Place
1909: No Place for Bulldogs in a City – New York Times
1896: Call to Ban ‘Murderous Bulldog’ in the City of Chicago