Daily Republican., 1885-02-23
PIeuro-Pneumonia.
AOLD IN THE PB ILADEL.
PHIA Mack ETs.
WHAT WE MAY EXPECT.

WHAT WE MAY EXPECT.
Veterinary Surgeon Francis Bridge,
Fifty-tbird and Vine streets John
Kester, 2234 Woodland avenue Hsrri-
son Nipple and w. A. Nipple, drovers,
Of $50 Mark4 street, Philadelphia,
were arrested on Friday, on warrants
charging them with conspiracy in SELL
ing cattle affected with contagious
pleuro.pneumonis, and in selling the
flesh of the cattle after they had been
slaughtered. The accused were held
for hearing on Tuesday In the sum Of
$1,000 each.
| John Kester, one of the persons ar
rested, has farm in Chester county,
three miles southeast of Kennett
Square.
He is milk dealer, and had on his
farm a herd of twenty-one cattle.
About four weeks ago one of the COWS
became very iii, and DR.. Bridge was
sent for. He pronounced the disease
from which the aDimal was suffering to
be pleuro pneumonia. and ordered
the diseased animal to be kill
ed, which was done at once.
A few days la,er three more Of
the herd were seized with the same
disease, and they too were killed. On
February 2d, Secretary Edge, of the
State Boord of Agriculture, DIR. Bridge
and DR.. kn light, of Kennett Square, ,ex-
lamined tine herd, which then numbered
seventeen, and decided that all of them
but one had the germs of the disease
in their lungs. Secretary Edge ordered
the whole herd slain. The State makes
some provision 1or the reimburse
ment OF the owners of diseased cattle
, slaughtered by the order OF the oficers
,of the State Board of Agriculture.
Instead of the cattle being killed
they were sold to drover, who slaugh-
tered them and sent the meat to Phila-
delphia, where it was sold to butchers,
who, in turn, disposed Of it to their
customers.
john Kester, one Of the defendants,
maze the follow ing statement after his
arrest
"Dr. Bridge said to me that he
: would attend 10 the sale of the cattle.
! A few days ato he said that he had
sold them TO man named Nipple for
$40 head. Nipple afterwards met
me In the stock yards and gave me q
check for $l7O
. 1T was the first saw of him. paid
$1,000 for the cattle, and of course want
ed To get az much out of them as possi-
BILE, but / hoped that they would he
sold to some one who would kill them
and make fertilizers of the flesh. do
not think that it would sound well to
hear it said that had sold diseased
cattle for the market. had nothing
to do with the sale further than 1 have
said. One in the lot of three which
were killed, DIR. Bridge said, was the
animal which spread the germs Of the
: disease. That one was sold to me by
Amos Edwards. The cattle were
appraised at sos each by James Cloud,
Mark Cox and l.. B Darlington"
DR.. Bridge denied all connection with
the sale of the cattle, and said only one
was badly diseased. He admitted, how
= ever, that he bad not seen the cattle
l. nor examined their lu gs after they
: were slaughtered. Kester and Ripple
o both allege that DR.. Bridge negotiated
: the sale of the herd. Harrison Nipple,
n in support of what he said, produced
8 the following note, which was addressed
o to young Kester on the farm near Ken
nett Square, and was endorsed by John
/ Kester, his father
Mr.. Kester Please let the bearer,
, Mr.. Nipple, have the cattle to kill. He
: has paid your father for them.
Respectfully yours,
ii FRANCIS BRIDGE.
This note was Hipple's authority for
? taking possession of and saughtering
the cattle, and it Is written and signed
| by DIR. Bridge.
, DIR. Francis Bridge, who is connected
/ with with this affair, Is State Veteri-
. nary Surgeon, appointed by the Cover.
nor of Pennsylvania, and one of his
I duties was TO inpect meat after ita
slaughter, and before it was offered for
sale.
4 The action of these men is severely
denounced by the people at Kennett
Q Square, and Justice of the Peace Mar
shall said: :" Our people are not only
vexed because the cattle affected with
pleuro- pneumonia were allowed to lin
0 ger for two weeks, and spread the germ
t of the disease, but they are grieved to
, think that the meat of those animals
y will be sold for food in PHILADELPHIA.
{ DR.. Knight, who is q reputable veteri-
, nary surgeon of good training and large
r experience, thinks that the flesh of the
y animals in kester's herd unfit for food,
: and every body about here who saw tho
y cattle seem to agree with him.
!, DIR. Knight, who examined the lungs
of the an imals, claimed that they were
4 diseased, and said that their meat was
r not fit for human beings to eat. The
q arrests were made by Detective Colburn
Q under the law which provides that it is
Y unlawful for any person who may own
| S"'oio VI oHooP ",.ooeoA oy Pioufo-pnou.
3 monia, or any other contagious disease,
:. to sell or otherwise dispose of such ami
4 mails, either alive or slaughtered, with
K in two months after the disease shall
have disappeared from the premises.
Y The penalty is a fine not exceeding $500
8 or term mofsimprisonment not exceeding
;. six months.
Bird for Mayor.
y The Wilmington correspondent Of the
9 Dover Sentinel, says:-I was told to.
d day, by local politician, that Levi
Bird, Esq, would be candidate fo,