The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-11-22
A WONDERFUL OPERATION.
How the Cincinnati Hog In Tntcn In and
Done For-Whnt n Visitor saw.

How the Cincinnati Hog Is Taken In and
Done For-Whnt n Visitor Saw.
BY the improved processes of slaugh-
tcring, within the brief space OF two
and half minutes hog loses his place
in the world MS portion Of the vitalized
creation and becomes SO much bacon, so
many sparc.ribs and such quantity Of
lard. As tho process involves tho per.
sonality Of the hog to some extent, We
will begin withhim in his living, breath
ing form. He is contained in m i'm.
mensc pen on tho ground floor OF the
building, and there arc n good many Of
him, say five or six hundred Mt time.
Tho porcine grlnters having had their
doom duly sealed, spoken their "last
Words" and tearfully handed around
among their ailing and spared compan-
ions Il few locks Of bristles and memcn-
toes, are driven up gangwny to the
slaughter pen, where au able-bodied
colored gentleman claps chain around
their hind legs, ono ut time, and the
pres uro OF tcamlovcr jerks the strug.
Cling and loudly sQuealing pig into the
mir. He is now suspended Oh hori-
zontnl bar about Thirty feet long. The
chain by which he il suspended slides
along the bar, and before he fairly com
prehends the situation another man,
CORY to his very armpits, plunges Il
knife into his throat, and taps the life
current. Flo squcals and kicks about
hnlf second, and before tho "vital
spark has fled" has beside him former
comralG Of tho pen, who has met with
the same misfortune, md, with him, is
Oh the way to meet his Gadarenc ances-
tors. There is n constant line OF stuck
hogs passing down this elevated bar, and
when they get to the end of it they are
dead. and are pumped into an enormous
tank OF boiling water. The great per.
sonal pride Of pig-sticker is to have
very little il any squealing on the part
of a hog after he introduces his knife
into his iugular.
The hogs take theirpost morten warm
bath, into which they are plunged from
the iron rod, eight and ten at time,
and, by means Of revolving iron skid
operated by steam Mt one end of the
tank, are thrown out singly upon large
wooden table, on which they are scraped
by twelve or fifteen men. They start in
rough, dingy and dirty Mt one ond OF the
table, and reach the other end as clean
aud white Ms may be. At the far end Of
the table one cuts of the head, another
hops tho bloodlcss trunk over to tho
gang below, who "gut" him, hang
him up and cool him of with stream
Of water. The beleading process is new
here, believe, and comes from acepha-
lous Chicago. 1t is claimed that by cut.
ting Off the head the hog is more speed
lily cooled, and that the tongue and head
pieces are got ut day in advance of tho
old method. The hams are also "faced"
and the inside fat taken out while the
hog is still warm, instead of waiting foi
it to cool MS formerly, md the innova
ton is said to be very advantageous.
When the heads have been cut oil, the
entrails and fatty substance taken out
aud the hams dressed, the cleaned hogs
are hung on runways between the joist
Of the drying.room and run into that de-
partmcnt to cool. Nearly nil the houses
on the avenue will chang" about $500
hogs on the floor. In this room, when
the hogs are sufficiently cool, they are
cut up into nil the various forms OF pork
hams, shoulders, middles, etc., and
the men who do tho cutting use their
knives and saws with the skill and pre-.
cision of anatomists, cleaning bone
when it is to DO thrown away so perfect.
ly that n hungry dog would pass it by
i'll disgust.
Since the adoption OF tho new method
Of taking of the heads and "facing y"
the hams in the killing-room, the cutters
work very fast and to much better
To cut up thousand
hogs is now considered only fair days
work for ono man, and i'll the busy sea.
son even more than thatamount Of work
is exacted. All of tho houses arc sup.
piled with huge iron watts extending from
the killing-room to the floor below, in
which the fatty portions of the hog are
boiled or steamed into lard. An i'm.
provement known ms "Callwell's mau.
head, Inns recently been made to these
watts. 1t is manhead in the center of
tho bottom Of the tank instead Of ut the
side rs in the old tanks, and its utility is
that when the cooking process is com.
pleto it is opened aud the "chowder
or "slush, ;" rs the refuse Of the lard is
called, drops out at once. The old tanks
had to cool 50 M to allow n man to go
into them md shovel out the /" chow.
der, aud that generally required two or
three hours. When the lard is i" done"
it is pumped into M elevated galvanized
receiver called "zig.zag," some thirty
by twelve feet square, and traversed by
cutters aggregating in length nearly
four hundred feet. The lard having
passed through these CUTTERS passes
through II long pipe to another receiver,
from which it is drawn into the ticrces
in wnichit finds its way to market. The
bristles 60 to the brush factory or mat.
tress.maker; the brains become "head-
cheese" the feet arc sold at the restaur-
ant MS Irish quail" and tho blood
flows into u big wooden vessel directly
under tho killer, is warmed by steam
pipes until it congealsinto sortof Jelly,
aud is then readily sold rs n fertilizer.