1955 front-page letter about a dog’s death by travel editor left a nation weeping

Travel editor Richard Joseph left New York with his wife, Morgan, in 1955. Soon enough, the couple settled in, adapting to the slower life in Connecticut. Amidst the new beginnings, Joseph and his wife welcomed a Basset Hound puppy named Vicky. The bundle of joy brought immense happiness to the couple, making their family complete. However, the happiness didn't last long for Joseph and Morgan. On an evening walk with Vicky, Joseph saw a speeding car veer off course, killing their 6-month-old fur baby. The unapologetic man fled the scene without even bothering to check on the dog he had killed, but heartbroken Joseph was desperate to reach out to him. The morning after the incident, he wrote a letter addressed "to the man who killed my dog" and sent it to the local paper, Westport Town Crier and Herald. Surprisingly, who published it on their front page. The heartbreaking letter was posted by Letters of Note.

Joseph started his letter by assuming that the reckless driver was on his way to somewhere important that horrifying evening. "I hope that when you got there, the time you saved by speeding meant something to you or somebody else," he wrote. Losing Vicky had left both Joseph and Morgan devastated, and they could do nothing but hope that the driver, perhaps a doctor, was rushing somewhere to ease someone else's pain. "The life of our dog to shorten someone’s suffering — that mightn’t have been so bad. But even though all we saw of you was your car’s black shadow and its jumping tail lights as you roared down the road, we know too much about you to believe it," he continued. Joseph was also obviously angry with the driver and told him that he had noticed him speeding up his vehicle despite realizing what he had done. "Your reflexes are good, we know, because you jumped on the gas again and got out of there fast. Whoever you are, mister, and whatever you do for a living, we know you are a killer," Joseph said.

Next, he explained how his vehicle, the "murder weapon," killed his dog within seconds. "I hope to God that when you hit my dog, you had for a moment the sick, dead feeling in the throat and down to the stomach that we have known ever since. And that you feel it whenever you think about speeding down a winding country road again," Joseph added. The editor warned the anonymous driver to be careful because, instead of a dog, it could be a child the next time. "Or maybe you’ll be real lucky again and only kill another dog and break the heart of another family," Joseph ended his letter.  A study by the Pew Research Center found that almost all (97%) of U.S. pet owners consider their pets to be part of their family. For low-income owners, 64% consider their pets to be as much a part of their family as a human member. This reflects how affection for a pet cannot be ruled by outside circumstances alone. For Joseph and his wife, Morgan, too, Vicky was their child — an integral part of their family — and losing him felt like the world crashing down in seconds. His letter reflects the love they shared and the depth of his grief after losing their beloved fur child.

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