The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-12-21
THE BLOOD CURE.
Patients Who Drink at the New York
Slaughter Houses.


A visit to the slaughter-hou ut the
foot of Thirty-fourth street was made by
the writer. Passing through the long
lines OF beef, dressed and ready for the
markets, to the center of the large build
ing, the SHAMELESS are found. Great,
sturdy men, with arms bare to the
shoulder and dyed with blood, stood
within small Enclosure. and hanging
before them was Texas steer, still warm
and the blood dripping from the cash in
his throat. The implements of slaughter
lay about, and the light struggling
through the windows overhead and re-
Elected from the blood-soaked floor cast
reddish tint upon every thing. The
steer was lowered to the floor, and,
while the hide was being rapidly taken
from his body, the writer turned to one
of the attendants and said:
DO people come here to drink
blood? ?"
"Lord bless you. yes, lots of them
Have a glass ?" and the CORY Hercules
stopped down for small dipper that
stood near by. The writer, begging to be
excused, continued the conversation.
"What do they drink it for?'
"Well, for all kinds of things. 1t
will cure almost anything, if you only
think it will. Consumption most often,
and weakness of all kinds. Thin people
drink it to get fat, and fat people who
think they're weak to get Strong"
Has it an unpleasant taste?"
sob, no; tastes something like warm
milk, and here the man made motion
as if to get some, which the writer quick
" checked.
"Can people come and drink a guam
tity of it the first time ?"
every seldom. Most people are
afraid of it at first, but they get to like it
after a while. Ladies' are the worst;
they make awful faces the first few
times, but they take to it at the end just
as if it was lager"
"Do you have many ladies come for
it ?"
"Lots. Almost every day we have
some, and it does them good, too. Why,
there used to be young lady come here
every morning in her carriage. The first
time she came she looked very bad. She
was white and thin and did not get out
of the carriage, because she was not able
to, L suppose. Well, she made an aw-
full fuss about it. thought she was go
ing to faint when she saw tho glass full
that was brought to her. Take it
away, she said, and SO it was taken
away. That day she managed to get
down a teaspoonful of it after a terrible
fuss. But she got to like it like all the
rest, and it wasn't long before she could
take tumbler of it and smack her lips,
too. She got fatter and fatter all the
time, and now she does not come
any more, and suppose she is cured"
do they ever take the blood home
with themi"
"Take it homer No, sir; they have
got to drink it when it is fresh, or else
it will get clotted, and they can't drink
it at all. Yoa see sometimes they will
have TO wait few minutes until we kill
fresh steer. Just as soon as the throat
is cut the blood sparts out. and we catch
some of it in glass, and then they must
drink it right down."
"What is the social position Of the
patients ?"
"Well, some are rich and some are
poor, but they all meet on common
ground when they come here. OF
course we take more interest in women
than we do in men; that's natural, you
know. and then the women always
seem more grateful when they are cured
than men do. There was an old man
who came here once, and he used to
grumble If the blood was not Just ready
for him. We stood it as long as we
could and then up and told him one
morning that we did not run bar. After
that he was more easy, and took his
blood as quiet rs any one"
cit is said by some people, particu-
larly some doctors, that the habit OF
drinking blood is dangerous one, be-
cause person engenders a passion for
it stronger than even for liquor The
more they drink the more they want"
81 Just tell you what it is, these doc
tors don't know anything about it.
They don't want their patients to drink
blood: Why, because they would get
well then, and that would ruin their
business. If people should stop eating
meat we should have go out of the bust
ness, and if people would stop getting
sick what would become Of the doctors
See Why, just go down to the mark
cts, any of them, ask the butchers IL
they ever have consumption when they
work around fresh meat. No, sir, they
don't, ana many o man mas been cured by
it and not know himself what cured him.
AS for the love of it, they all like it we'll
enough after they get used to it, and
have heard of men who have drunk it
regularly for years, but never heard
there was anything queer about them"
The men about the slaughter-house
speak not only of cases of consumption
cured, but also of defermities and swell
Gngs made well. The case of q child,
little girl about years of age, that
was brought to the abattoir almost daily
during the past summer, is a case in
point. When she first appeared she was
accompanied by her parents and was ex-
oeedingly thin and pale. She was af-
fected, it was stated, with infammatory
rheumatism or something of that nature,
and one of her legs was drawn out of
shape. The little thing was indeed a
sufferer, and was regarded with anxious
eyes by the sturdy men. Her father
had heard that the paunch Of n steer
placed around the diseased limb would
have beneficial effect, and had come
TO try the experiment upon his daughter.