The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-11
SWILL MILK.

Mr.. Bersh and the Milk Maids Visit to the
stables-A nominations in Williamsbnrg-Six
Hundred Dead Animals Rotting mt the Ferry.
Yesterday as the clocks of Williamsburg were
striking one, a party of six gentlemen stepped
from Grand street ferry-boat and proceeded
hastily in the direction of North First street.
The leader was Henry G. .Bcrgh, the well known
phiianthropist and President of the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
HOUSE OF DEATH.
After walking only three blocks from the
main thoroughfare, the party entered the stable
on the corner of North Fifth and First sts. The
to withdraw from the premises. group of
Hibernian ''milkmaids" stood near the main en-
trance, and when the tall figure of Mr.. Bergh
appeared, they looked at each other in most
inquiring manner. One of the ''unwashed"
ventured to remark that the weather looked like
snow. The good looking pastor from Twenty
third street walked among the cattle with bold
ness, and Mr.. Bergh and his detectives picked
their, way through the gloom cautiously but be-
fore proceeding far they had to return and open
the wooden shutters before they could see with
any satisfaction.
THE VENTILATION.
The ventilation was so bad that one could
hardly draw in q full breath. The few shutters
on the front side of the table did some good,
but they were closed when the party arrived.
So dark was the interior, that person could
scarcely recognize an intimate friend at ten feet
distance. The cows were covered with filth,
and most OF them were bloated and diseased.
The feeding -troughs were slimed with swill,
and every timber throughout the stable was
sticky with the noxious vapors that were con-
stantly rising from this prison-house of death.
The floor was completely saturated with filth,
and the very walls were suggestive of disease.
Scores of animals were lying down, and not
few of them appeared almost helpless. 1t took
some time for one to walk through the passage
ways, and altogether there could not have been
less than 200 cows confined in the building. The
ssrnilkmaidsn attamntad inafifv THAR trao =
ment of the poor brutes, and two or three of the
more intelligent even limited that no ''animules"
in the country were better treated. The best of
hay was given, and they had all they wanted of
ii, besides 'plenty" of other food.
THE MoRGUE.
Leaving the heated air of the stable, the party
followed the detectives into yard in the rear.
Here lay an animal stiff and cold. The sight
was horrible, for COW was almost skin and
bone. The ''bloated fatness" had disappeared,
and only heap OF putrid flesh and rotten bones
remained. Huge swill tanks were on every
side, and some of them had capacity for more
than thousand gallons. The others held about
five hundred gallons. In all there were 81 of these
swill tubs. large distillery stood at the upper
end of the yard, and formerly, when it was
running, fully 900 cows were kept here. Then
the swill came scaldlng hot from the distillery,
and the neighborhood was pestilent with sick
to convey the liquor to different parts of the
stables are still remaining. Some of them are
as large as a fish cask. As it was impossible to
obtain the names of the proprietors OF the COWS,
the following names were copied from the nu-
merous milk wagons in the yard
PURE MILK.
~. B. Bender, dairy milk
John A. Henry, Astoria MIX Dairy depot, pure
milk.
P. Seaman, No. 90 John street, Brooklyn, E. D.,
pure Queens county milk.
j. Mlddlecamp, No. 824 First street, Brooklyn E
d. Kings county, l. l., "pure milk"
II. o. Grady Kings county, Brooklyn, L. l.
4. M. Cohn, L. J. MIX Dairy. once No. 270 Second
street, Brooklyn, 4. d.
j. Regan, Brooklyn Il. ID.
AMoNUMENT A TO THE BOARD OF HKALTu.
Leaving this place the party walked to the
foot of North Sixth street, which isnot more than
two blocks Idistant. Here is the offal dock,
where one Frank Swift, an offal contractor de-
posits the carcases-of horses and cows that die
in the city. The stencil was enough to sink
an ordinary schooner, and IL required
heroism on the part of Mr. Bergh and his
companions to approach 1t. Fully 500 dead
animals were piled up on the dock and a
barge moored to the pier. Nearly all of the
cows bore the marks Of the swill-milk disease
Mr.. Bergh said that he had informed the Board
of Health about this nuisance, but still they re-
main disgrace to barbarism. A detective said
that these decaying bodies had been here for
two months. There were enough carcases to
cover an acre lot 80 that the bodies would almost
touch each other