Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-15
DRINKING BLOOD.
An Early Morning Scene in
Which Wealthy Men and
Women were Actors.
The Killing of the Bullock,
and the Eagerness of La
dies and Gentlemen
To Secure Mugs Of Hot Blood.

hodtNoiT bt tho ioob VI 'eoe rhsl-
ninth street, yesterday, to witness. the
operation OF slaughtering, and to
CLEAN some facts concerning the can.
nibslistic tastes of o civilized people.
IL WAS hardly even o'clock In the
morning, II a slight shower was
falling. A coupe and two coaches
waited outside, and the reporter asked
ono of the drivers whether purchasers
OF besves came thus early to lay In
their stock, to which he replied, ~
don't know nothing bout that. /
brings a lady, su' l don't think she
much buys beet.
Passing through q big wagon. way,
paved with large oobble stones, the
floor being on a slant, the reporter
soon came upon a small group, com.
posed of five women and eight men,
Three Of the former and one of the
men had arrived In coaches. As this
group stood there iu tho early morn
Ing, esch with a glass, u mug or tin
cup, looking anxiously toward the
east In the direction of the sls ughter.
Ing pens, they were hungry for blood.
Pr, sently u fine young bullock was
brought Into the pen and the gate was
closed behind him. Two men, by a
dsx:rouo movement, slipped the moose
OF two ropes around the bullock's hind
legs, and in another instant he dapgled
In mid.air head downward. A butcher,
blood begrimed from head to foot,
with his trousers tucked inside, entered
the pen armed with knife, the foot
long blade of which glistaned In the
gas light. He waited o moment until
the animal ceased to beat the air with
his forelegs, and then hastily cut down
u small portion of the skin at the neck
and severed the arteries, when a Grim
son tide 1,wed from the inclsion.
At the sight of the life blood of the
now dying bullock the eyes of all
present glistened with an esgerness to
get the fret cup The blood.suckers
(tor that Is what the butchers call
them are not permitted inside the
pen, but boys working about the
premises make 1t a point to be on
hand every morning when the killing
Is in progress, aud they take the re.
ceptacles, and hold them under the
fountsin of blood until full, returning
them to their respective owners. One
gentleman after draining his mug had
1t reilled and offered 1t to the re-.
por'er, who, after q little battle with
himself, tasted the fl nd. 1t war not
b I'd, and he drank the entire contents
of the mug The taste was not much
.-ltlrn ,nnl ~,sl,aI lt Ala
s eetened. In fact, 1t tasted 30 su-
p clor to what had been imagined
tt It there need be no surprise at the
re 4arkabie growth of the habit.
After the departure of the Gus
to ners the reporter asked the fore
man whether he had many every
morning.
, "Yes. That isa small lot. When we
don't have more than a dozsn blood.
thiraty ladies' and gentlemen here 1t i'
q poor day. Some days thsre are ss
3 many as tairty,"
"D) the same persons come oftenY
f "Well, as a rule, they are patients
who are sent here By their doctors.
Some try it once, get ~disgusted ane
never come again. Others come a
few times and think they are cured
of consumption or something else anc
B stay away; but there are some who
come regularly every day or every
second day for months at a time, ant
{ although there Is seemingly nothing
the matter with them, the appetite fol
{ blood has 30 grown on them that they
cannot stay away"
4 Chow much blood can your oldest
8 customers drink at one timer"
Generally they confns to one
r glass or mug, but we have one lady
who comes every alternate day. She
; insists on hav,ng three full bumpers,
. while that old man you saw here
, drinks two of his cupfulls every day"
i "What are the complaints that are
treated by imbibing blood2'
8 "The majority who come here are
oonsumptives, while there are a mum
= Der of ~rheumatics, cases Of protracted
fevers leaving impovsrlshment of the
d blood, and some extremely aged peo-
pie, requiring an infusion of new
e life"
DO you charge them anything for
he blood they drink"
"Nary a red. We are only too glad
, to give It to them, 80 long as they
don't annoy us or interfere In our
work. The boys who get the blood
d for them and wash their mugs gen.
n orally get a few cents from the rich,
but they are not permitted to demand
anything" .
}. $50 many wealthy persons seek thi.
kind of medjoine2'
a "The greater portion of them are
1t well-to.do, and some days there are q,
t. least a dozen oonveyances outside
3 waiting until their occupants have had
- their morning cocktail"
"Are the other abattoirs also pat.
Is ronized so e~xtensively?'
"No. The other slaughter houses
III do not make the killing OF beeyes !
specially Us ne do, They XIV every
,e thing buiiocks, COWS, calveA sheer
and hogs, and at irregular ht,MA sc
IN that people don'l go much to them,
Whenever you want q good glass uf
ut young bullock's blood, come here
i'd at the beginning or close of tn
week"
tv Chow about hot water cures2" aske'
ng the reporter,
"Nothing In that" answered III
man of blood; shot blood is tn,
thing. Any hoy, blood Is thicker tina
water. Pat that in your pipe an
a smoke It,"
tn Hop Bltters are the Pursst and Best Bitter
E.ar Mada