The banner-enterprise., 1883-05-24
MEN DRINKING HOT BLOOD.
A STRAIN aE MORNING SCENE AT a
NEW YORK ABATToIR.
The Killing of the BuilOcks, and the Eager
ness of Ladies' and Gentlemen 10 Secure
Mugs of Hot Blood.

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The Killing of the BuiIoclss, and the Eager.
ness of Ladies and Gentlemen 10 Secure
Mugs of Hot Blood.
A New York Journal reporter
visited large abattoir in that city to
witness the operation of slaughterlng,
and to CLEAN some facts concerning the
cannibaistic tastes of a civilized people.
1t was hardly o'clock in the morning,
and a slight shower was falling. A
coupe and two coaches waited outside,
and the reporter asked one of the
drivers whether purchasers of beeyes
came thus early to lay in their stock,
to which he replied: 81 don't know
lothing bout that. l brings a lady,
an l don't think she buys much
beef"
Passing through a wide wagon way,
paved with large cobblestones, the
floor being OF slant, the reporter soon
came upon small group, composed of
five women and eight men. Three of
the former and one of the men had ar
rived in coaches. AS this group stood
there in the early morning, each with
glass, a mug or tin cup, looking
anxiously toward the east in the direc-
ton of the slaughtering pens, they
were hungry for blood.
Presently fine young bullock was
brought into the pen and the gate was
closed behind him. Two men, by a
dexterous movement, slipped the moose
of two ropes around the bullock's hind
legs, and in another instant he dangled
in mid-air, head downward. A
butcher, blood-begrimed from head to
foot, wearing a huge hat and heavy
boots, with his trousers tucked inside,
entered the pen armed with knife,
the foot-long blade of which glistened
in the gas-light. He waited a moment
until the animal ceased to beat in the
air with his forelegs, and then hastily
cut down small portion of the skin
at the neck and severed the arteries,
when crimson tide flowed from the
incision.
AT the sight of the life blood Of the
now dying bullock the eyes of all
present glistened with an eagerness to
get the first cup. The blo)d-suckers
(for that is what the butchers call
them) are not permitted inside the
pen, but boys working about the
premises make it point to be on hand
every morning when the killing is in
progress, and they take the re-
ceptacles and hold them under the
fountain of blood until full, returning
then to their respective owners. One
gentleman after draining his mug had
it relilled and offered it tothe rep lrter,
who, after little battle with himself
tasted the fluid. 1t was not bad, and
he drank the entire contents of the
mug. The taste was not much unlike
fresh-milked lacteal fluid sweetened.
In fact, it tasted 50 superi n to what
had been imagined that there need be
no surprise at the remarkable growth
of the habit.
After the departure of the custom.
ers the reporter asked the foreman
whether he had many every morning
"YeS. That is small lot. When
we don t have more than dozen blood
thirsty ladies an gentlemen here it is
a poor day. Some days there are as
many as thirty
"Do the same persons come often? ?
"Well, as rul', they are patients
who are sent here by their doctors.
Some try it once, get disgu ted and
never come again. Others come few
times and think they ar cured of con-
or something else an stay
away; but there are some who come
every day or every second day
for months at u time. and although
there is seemingly nothing the matter
with them, the appetite for bloc has
50 grown On them that they cam
stay away"
"IIow much blood can your Oldest
customers drink at one timey"
Generally they coniine themselves
to one glass or mug but we have one
lady who comes every alternate day.
She insists on having three full bump
ers, while that old man you saw here
drinks two of his cupfuls every day.
"What are the complaints that are
treated by imbibing blood?"
"The majority who come here are
consumptives, while there are num-
Der of rheumatics cases of protracted
evcrs leaving impoyerishment of the
blood, and some extremely aged peo-
pie, requiring an infusion of new life
ado you charge them anything for
the blood they drink?'
"Nary a red, We are only too glad
to give it to them, so long as they
don't annoy us or interfere in our
work. The boys who get the blood
for them and wash thnir mugs gem
orally get few cents from the rich,
but they are not permitted to demand
ado many wealthy persons seek
his kind of incidence
"The greater portion OF them are
well-to-do, and some days there are at
east a dozen conveyances outside
waiting until their occupants have had
heir morning drink
A S,,oII novso Can, nnS itiau