Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-03-26
NO. 1892
THE BIGGEST HOG YET.

Every spring there is contest for
the big hog championship of New
Hanover township. Burlington county,
N. j. Either Taylor De Vinne or
Squire Anthony Bullock has held the
record for years. When the Squire
had his big hog butchering a week
ago on Saturday, and twelve-year-old
Sammy Carter's pet hog weighed .O64
pounds, dressed, he beat TAYLOR De
Vinne's last years biggest hog bv
fourteen pounds. Judge Brown. of
the Common Pleas Court of Burline-
ton county was weighmaster, and
Granger Joshua Forsyth helped him
manipulate the weight on the steel
yard. Everybody was satisfied, and
all the Jerseymen who were there or
who heard about it were glad that
Sammy Carter had, by incessant feed
ing and attention, raised such a big
hog.
For weeks Mr. Bullock and Mr.. De
Winnie had been feeding their hogs all
they could eat. Joseph Carter used to
sit up till midnight SO that each hog of
his twenty would be sure to be packed
full of boiled corn meal. Sammy want
ed to sleep near his big hog, but he
was not allowed to do So On De
Vinne's farm George McCloe, a colored
man. almost lived in the clean pens.
The hogs, of course, could not walk or
even stand The fattest ones had to
be pried over when it was thought
they had lain too long on one side.
Squire Bullock raised all of his hogs
on his own place, but De Vinne went
around and bought up likely big boned
pigs to start on.
Squire Bullock and Sammy Carter
had their innings first and the big hog
called Blaine lifted the record to 1,064,
while the average of the twenty was
S46. On Tuesday of last week, Taylor
De Vinne and George McCloe went to
their big pen and brought out their
twenty hogs and had their innings
Burlington county is almost evenly
divided politically, and when the hog
Blaine beat last years record all the
Republicans rejoiced. Taylor De Vim
ne is DcmoorbiS, anu he named his
favorite hog Hoosier, after Vice-Presi-
dent Hendricks There was another
big hog he called Jim, or the White
Hog. The most of the Jersey hogs
are of sandy red color, just the same
shade as the soil of the $80-an-acre
farms But Jim was white, and almost
everybody, except the old hog connois-
seurs, thought he would be the heavi-
est.
Killing began early and in a few
hours the twenty hogs were dead,
dressed, and strung up ready to be
weighed The Wrightstown brass
band came early, and every one of the
thirteen performers made as big
noise on his pet instrument as the big
hog. The dressed hogs looked fine as
they hung sleek and shiny on their
hooks. Squire Remine, who was sent
for by special messenger, came with
his steel yard. Male Margerum, of
Trenton, and Stacy B. Taylor, famous
for his fine applejack, were assistant
weightmasters The weighing cart
was started, and the band played
tune after each weight was announced.
The first hog weighed 75S pounds.
From this figure the weights ran up
until the seventeenth hog balanced
1925 pounds, and an extra man was
put on the long end of the weighing
beam. The eighteenth was Jim, the
white hog, and the crowd closed in
around the steelyard. Samuel South
ard, another hog raiser, who does not
compete this year, helped the weigh
ing committee. Everybody was ex-
pectant, but the white hog weighed
only 1,O60, and Sammy Carter and
Sammy's father and uncle and Mr..
Bullock were joyful.
Hoosier was the twentieth and last.
He was a thick-set hog, with big
girth and bulging shoulders The lard
hung on him like the blubber on a
whale. rive ueu gave ele OcdiAl q
yank, and Hoosier rose in the air be
low the tilted steelyard. All the
weights were put on and shifted out tc
the far end, and when the register
marked 1,O64 Hoosier still held dowr
his end. and it took IS pounds more t(
balance him. He weighed just 1,07!
pounds. This weight made Hoosiel
the champion dressed hog, and Taylor
De Vinne the champion hog raiser
Everybody applauded, Squire Bullock
and the Carriers making as much noise
as anybody, for it was New Hanover
hog.
There was procession, and while
the band played See the Conquerins
Hero Comes" the crowd got the
stretcher on which the big hog haC
been carried to the weighing place
and put George McCloe on it, ant
carried him around the yard. Their
Squire Bullock took off ring from
his right hand, where it had been fol
years, and put it on Taylor De Vinne's
finger, while the band played Hail to