Pontarddulais was sweltering under a heatwave in late July of the summer of 1899. In the Bont the air was heavy and oppressive, with the people being lulled into a sleepy stupor by the steady drumming sounds of the various tinplate works. Only the children seemed to have enough energy to play in the street. All were unaware of the terror that was approaching down Fforest Hill on that Thursday afternoon, 20 July 1899.

In a short time, eight of those little children playing so happily would have the shadow of death hanging over them - death from Hydrophobia - Rabies! The approaching terror was a stray setter dog suffering from that dreaded disease. The dog ran into the Black Horse Square snapping and snarling, and the laughter and shouting of the children changed to screams of pain and fear as the demented animal ran amok among them.

Police Constable Saer was urgently sent for, and he immediately had the animal caught and destroyed, but not before eight children had been bitten as well as several animals. When things calmed down, the one question that was on everyone's mind 'was the dog rabid?' and if so 'what would happen to the children?'

An inspector of the Board of Agriculture sent the head of the dog to London for tests and the people of Pontarddulais waited in dread for the results of the tests to come back from London. The Rev. D.Lloyd Morgan, minister of Hope Chapel, whose six year old son Vavassor was one of the victims, aptly expressed the feelings of the parents. 'I was terrified beyond belief. I understood the seriousness of the situation with my own flesh and blood in danger of that awful disease, and fully realising the painful and heart-rending stages through which it pursued it's fatal course, my condition is a sad one'.

The waiting ended on Thursday 3 August when the inspector of the Board of Agriculture arrived to confirm their worst fears, and advised the local authorities to dispatch the bitten children to the Pasteur Institute in Paris immediately. The Swansea Board of Guardians resolved to send the children to Paris. A sub-committee was appointed on the Friday morning to formally investigate their powers in the matter. Mr Rees Harries was dubious as to whether the Board could incur the expense in cases of this nature, but expressed the opinion that, inasmuch as the parents of the children were working class they would act immediately.