Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-10-30

The HORSE DIsEAsE.-The prevailing cpl
| demic among horses, which it would be unfash-
ionable not to have, has firmly established it
self in Worcester The coughing which has
prevailed about town for the past few days
among horses, and which sanguine owners, in
spite of reports from other cities, persisted in
attrbuting to slight colds, have in a great many
cases developed into the dread disease. During
the day yesterday numerous horses were seen
upon the street with running nostrils and de-
bilitated appearance, and some of them exhi-
bited such severe symptoms while at work that
their owners were Obliged to put them up.
During the evening the streets presented de-
serted appearance. The hacks which usually
line the curb stones from the Bay State house to
the city hall, were all off duty, and the absence
of all means of transportation, except the slow
ly moving horse cars, was in some
cases quite ian annoyance. Some of
the stable keepers, while admitting that
many of their horses are "off feed" and cough
ing badly, still persist that the trouble is moth
ing more serious than a common cold, but a
large majority admit that the disease has made
its appearance and is increasing rapidly. There
are probably IN the city two or three hundred
horses more or less under the weather, and new
cases are reported hourly at the large stables.
Aided by the experience of horse owners in
other cities where the epidemic is prevailing, the
best of care is taken of the animals affected
and there is no reason to fear any serious re-
suit from the spread of the disease beyond the
temporary inconvenience and pecunary loss at
Will 4 1oct
business. Most of the cases thus far are of a
mild type, and there are probably not more
than fifteen or twenty horses in the city that
have the disease in its worst form.
AT the extensive livery and hacking stables of
S. I. Howard, on Foster street, and n T. Bems
& Co., on Exchange street, which were reported
free from the disease on Monday, there were
yesterday several cases of coughing and running
noses. At the former only five or six are as yet
affected, while in the latter nearly every horse
in the barn is troubled more or less. AS fast
as the horses come in, they are put under treat
ment, and all who exhibit any symptoms of the
disease are at once taken off duty.
The express stable on Foster street is trans
formed into veterinary hospital, and of the
~ hOlcCoA hOpt thlASlO kOhly OhG was i'll CODul-
ton to work yesterday. The companies hired
part of their work done, and the rest was left
undone. Some of the stage horses on the MARI
borO and Barre lines are affected, and will prob
ably have to be taken off to-day.
At the Bay State stables the horses remain
about as on Monday, though several new cases
Of coughing have been noticed.
Four of the horses at the horse railroad COM
pany's stables on Market streetexhibited strong
symptoms of the disease yesterday, and were
taken off the cars The company has still
horses enough to continue its regular trips, but
| if the epidemic continues to spread it is very
probable the running of the cars may be seri-
ously iuterlered with.
At Whitcomb s lbIerrithew's boarding stable,
on Central street, all the horses are more or less
affected, and are not in condition for work.
At Brown Barnard's truck stables, on
Thomas street, only six horses out of forty were
at work yesterday, the Others exhibitingssymp.
toms more or less marked, but none of them
are seriously affected.
Nearly every horse of the thirty.fye kept at
the Exchange stables is coughing, but only two
or three refuse food 1t has been noticed that
many of those affected will eat hay but refuse
grain.
| At Converse's stable on Mechanic street thr-
teen horses have the malady, some of them in
an aggravated form; and at Hume's stable on
Laurel street eight or ten horses exhibit the
coughing symptoms.
The propretors of Nutting's stable on Waldo
street, Perry & BancroGrs on School street,
Walker & Co., ice dealers, Matthews & Howe,
on Market street, Adams & Co. ON Pleasant
street, and McDonald's on Canal street. claim
that no symptoms of the disease have yet ap.
peared. If this is the fact they are the only
stables in the city, visited by our reporters,
where the disease does not prevail in a more or
less marked form.
Many of the truckmcn, who own one or two
horses each, were idle yesterday, and business
firms, who depend on their own animals to do
their work, are put to considerable inconveni-
ence. Five of the horses owned by the Wash
burn & Moen manufacturing company, were
taken with the disease yesterday, and some of
| the coal dealers have horses on the sick list.
The fire department horses, though as yet un-
affected, have been retired from active duty on
| the streets.
Animals of fame for speed and style are not
exempt from the prevailing symptoms. Among
those showing signs of the dstemper are
Rocky" Leonard" "Rebel," "Frolic,' and
"Roy Roy" One of Mr.. G. B. Pratl's horses is
also affected.
At Geo. P. Kendrick Co.'s on Franklin
street, the horses coughed less during the day
than Monday, aud the disease has assumed no
new phases, Teams were not let yesterday, as il