The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-03-25

- 800 AsAAASea AZ Il
chine siauEhter-House - The stieker
and His Fatal Knife--Seraped by Ma
ehinery- Derapitated at Last.
In the Town OF Lake, only a few mil 5
from the modern, civilized city of Chicago,
lives q man VIII, commits 5000 or l 100
murders day, and is never arrested for it
He Kills hogs, gets 81 day, ami goes home
at night with no cloud on his conscience
but with i,ap of blood upon his clothes.
Did you ever see this hog killer at work,
In pen two or three men are at work
catching pigs The catcher Is an active fel-
low with keen eye and nervy hand. He
reaches for pigs hind le-, Set, what he
reaches for, aifixes loop-chain, and the as
cension Of Mr.. Pig from this vale of tears at
cnce begins A min above pulls lever
and the omnipotent power Of STAN yanks
the pig to hanging position.
Tho chain attached to his leg is fastened
10 q carrier which slips along an overhang.
ing rail, and thu victim slides clear of tho
pen, takes his last look ut his unsuspectins
brothers and sisters, and goes to his doom
Halt dozen feet away stands the sticker
He grabs ~ pigs foreles, pulls tho fat
throat toward him, exposes the region Of
the heart, and with quick, quiet sort Of
movement drives the knife home The life
blood spurts out. the squeal reloubles in
volume and intensifes in agony ard then all
is over. With his death song in hi, throat
the dying pig slides down the fatal way
jostlee against those Of his fellows whose
fats Immediately preceded his own. kicks a
few times, struggles little more and then
his voice Is stilled forever.
Jab, iab, lab. goes the fatal knife, every
iab pig, worth dozen dollars, and adding
another $50 pounds to the pork supply
which Chicago sends the world Eight pigs
minute, zoo an hour, they come and 20.
The stieker is never in hurry, his arm Il
never unnervei, his aim never untrue.
DROPPED INTO TIE scALDIyG VAT.
The victims iOstle each other while their
life blood runs out AMI down the scuppcrs
to be converted into fertilizers for tho very
Fields, perhaps, Oh whose fatness thcy were
prepared for the slaughter. Each in turn
arrives at the end Of the track, anil there
stands man who deftly removes tho chains
from bis ley and let's him drop into the
scalding vat. This is great tub, twenty
feet long BY eight wide, and hero tho victim
JONES his mates in the bath. Steam is con.
tinually flowing in, keeping the water at
boiling heat, and q the rather Is rolled and
ooated along by q pair Of workmen with
poksrs In hand the hair upon his hide be-
comes loose ind his skin becomes cleaner
than IL ever was before. Then h, reaches
the end OF the Tub AMI Is noated upon big
Iron cradle whose fingers nearly compass
his steaming body. A man pulls lever,
steam-power raises the cradle and the car.
cas- 10 thrown upon smooth plank plat.
form. Sometimes rot often, pig reaches
this interesting stage Of his unrcturnable
journey with remnant Of lifc in his body.
He Il bot and steaming from his Russian
bath, and now comes the scrape First no
sltdes through cloths which brush. tho water
from his skin; and then 10 l. squeezed AMI
pulled through gauntlet Of nine wheels,
each foot wide at its tire, and oil revolving
In direction the reverse Of that in which
the carcass Is moving. The peripheres Of
tte.c wheels are set with steel blades, in
t.tplots, all thin and flexible, and their ends
turned In the sixteenth Of nm inch, forming
scraperS. One end Of tho axle Of each
wheel Il set in mitred or movable bearing
and balanced with weights Through this
narrow avenue Of revolving scrapers tho
carcass % slowly drawn, soon emerging with
most Of the hair removed from the hide
The movable bearings and tho fexibility Of
the steel blades render the apparatus sclf-ad.
n table to animals Of all sizes and varying
shapes. Tho lean pig Is well scrapel, and
tho ain Of the big fat hog ia not bruised or
scratched The mechanical scraper will do
tie work of more than 100 men, and turn
the carcasse out whitlr and more uniform
II color than the best hand scraping Of
course, the machine can not reach all parts
Of the carcass Here and there arc portions
from which the hair has not been removed,
and these are attended to by gang Of hand
scraperA
DrcAPITATIoN OF THE CARCASS.
The men work In pairs, ono on each side
Of the benchs and tho carcass gets little rest
First one pair and then another slide It
along, and finally 1t reaches the end of tho
table, clean OF hair from head 10 foot and
white enough to hang in front of the butch.
er's shop. Here stands another man with
knifO In bis hand-a remarkable knife used
In remarkable manner II is small man
ami small weapon, but together they do
terrible work. Grabbing the hairless car of
his poriship the man throws the neck into
just the position which suit, him, make,
taree slashes with his knife, and piggy's
head hangs only by threads of SKIN on one
side Of his neck There are few men in tie
world who can do this trik 1t requires
ut simple twist Of the wrist, and yet the
beheader draws q day as skilled work.
man Every carcass Is decapitatcd exactly
a. every other carcass Is decapitated There
u not the variance of hairs breadth. This
man cuts of pigs heads faster than most
men could cut of pigs tails and makes
tleancr job Of It. lie ia all artist, else he
&C uld not bold position a beheader- in chief
to bis excellency Phil Armour, the prince OF
pork.
As fast cs the heads lop to one side
workman atiixes the gambrels to the "ham
strings, pulls lever. hoists til, carcass to
another overhead railway, and starts it
siiing toSard a. other department Here
sight Is lost OF oar noble hog With bis
threat cut, his Idle scalded, bis SKIN scraped,
his hair OIL and hi, bead hanging by the
gils, he now gees {, have removed that
for which he lived and rooted anil fought
bis innsr-self brief pause only will lie
made at the bench whero he dissolvcs into |
quarters, TO be scattered to the four corners
Of the earth. Stalwart men uplift huge
beavers, which fall-did somebody say with
, dull thuh:-upon the inanimate form Of
the victim At one fell stroke ham sepa
rates from sid, and shoulder from rib |
piece. TO sooner is one carcass quartered
than another drops into place Down again