The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-10-20
Scenes at the New York Horse Markets.

The stranger who is passing Twenty
fourth Street, in the Third Elevated Rail-
road, does not need to be told that he is
in the vicinity of the great horse marts
of the city. His olfactory nerves speedily
assure him of the fact. If anything
further is needed he has only to glance out
of the car windows and he will catch
fleeing glimpses of stable boys and men,
whose "horsy" proclivities are not to be
mistaken, engaged in handling refrac-
tory beasts or discussing the points of
the animals with the air of connoisseurs.
Let the stranger get off at the Twenty
third Street station and spend an hour
among the numerous long, narrow stables
that make up the neighborhood known
to New Workers as 1.-The Bulls Head"
and he will wonder where all the horses
come from that supply this market. The
countryman who spends days haggling
over trade will see single dealer sell
horses as fast as the stableman can trot
them before the eyes of the purchasers.
SHOW many horses do you sell in a
year" asked Tribune reporter recently
of Bulls Head dealer.
"Ten or twelve thousand" he replied.
"Where do they all come from?"
From all over the country: Canada,
the New England States, the Middle
States, the Southern States and the West
ern States, and recently there have been
importations of the thick-necked, heavy
Norman horses from France, These lat
ter are for breeding purposes. To sup
ply this market, $4,000 horses year are
required. Every street railroad keeps a
man securing the country for suitable
horses for its use. They want light, quick
horses that weigh about 1,10O pounds.
The brewery and express companies and
the heavy truckmen will take the largest
horses they can get. The nearer to 1900
pounds horse weighs, the more they
will pay for him. It is to supply this
demand that the Norman horses are be-
ing brought to this country. Ihave a
stable of Norman horses, one of street.
car horses, one filled with old hacks to
sell to street peddlers, and one where the
young fellow who wants to take his girl
out behind 'toppy' team can be &C.
commodated."
So crowded are these stables that it is
difficult to move about between the horses
without being trampled upon. Yet the
stablemen shift the horses about and trot
them before the buyers with surprising
agility. While the reporter was stand
ing looking at the busy scene in one OF
these stables and listening to the stamp.
ing of hoofs and the crack of the dealers
whip as the horses sped past him, a stable
boy walked slowly by, with an expression
of pain on his features and holding his
hand to his side.
I'm afeared l am laid up for good.
this time" he said as the reporter asked
him whereabouts he was kicked. There
is the same scene, with more or less
activity, in all the stables all day long
until night comes, when the animals are
fed, rubbed down and blanketed, as the
sea air quickly gives a country horse the
pneumonia or lung fever.
When the young horse is brought from
the country he receives his breaking
i'm at the hands of the street-car or truck
driver. In either case the result is the
same. He is well fed and well groomed,
but driven remorselessly over the Bel
gian blocks for two years until he is stiff
and spawned. Then he is sold on a
"cleaning-out'' day to street peddler.
The poor horse then finds that his
troubles have just begun, and henceforth
there is only the watchful humanity OF
Mr.. Bergh to protect him.
Last year Mr.. Bergh kindly killed
about 1900 of these horses. Then their
carcasses were sent to Barren Island.
There every particle of them is utilized.
Their bones are made into knife-handles
and combs and find ready sale. Their
hides are tanned for leather, and their
hoofs are made into glue and mucilage.-
NJ Y. Tribune.