Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-08-02

Warning to Those Who Work In Leather
StOres-Bleod Pofsonins.
The death Of Thomas Young Some time
ago, . workman IN Spruce street wholesale
leather house. from poison received IN hand
ling hides, has caused talk among leather
dealers William Palen said: II zee that
Young thought that he had been bitten by
some insect that burrowed in . hide / differ
from that have Known OF poisonous in
scots, such as the scorpion. to b found IN tho
hides. bus never knew of any men being bit
ten by them Young probably raised bum
die Of hides to his shoulder and it scratched
his neck, causing an abrasion Of the skin,
through which the poison m the hide entered
his system. In my fathers tannery, over
thirty i've years ago, used 20 see men with
their arms frightfully swollen through hav.
ing been poisoned In handling hides Ono
man employed here in Spruce street lost an
eye in this way Physicians, in making an
autopsy, may be poisoned similarly if any
abrasion Of their skin is exposed to the virus
Of any diseased organ OF subject they ara
examining. Most Of the hides likely to be dis
eased como from the East indies. the Argen-
tine Confederation and other foreign porsa
have never known men to be poisoned In
Yretty sure to come from stock that has been
.iiled"
|. G. B. Horton said: ''There Is no more dam
gerous illness that q man can suffer from
than that of blood poisoning from coming in
contact with the hide Of an animal that has
died Of virulent disease II should DO
poisoned in this way in the head or neck
should go home and make my will II
man is poisoned IN the hand his chance Of
recovery is good; but let him be poisoned in
the head or neck, and it is two to one that he
dies. have known OF half a dozen deaths
tn five years, two Of them being of mon in
our own employ, from the same cause that
killed Young Hides include those Of ami
mails that have been killed and whose skins
are healthy; those Of fallen cattle, or those
that have been frozen or died Of starvation,
whose minute blood vessels, In the feshy
part Of the hide, ooagulate and turn the skin
black; and lastly. Of those Of diseased cattle,
that also turn black and have patches Of hair
gone in placeA OF course, the ordinary
workman cannot make these distinctions but
they can protect themselves from danger Il
they would cover any abrasion OF the skin at
once with court plaster or wear gloves when
at work There il no danger IN handling
our native hides, because the men west don't
remove tho skin from IN animal that hAs
died of any disease.
1.-The most dangerous hides comefrom coun-
HieA where the workmen arc very poor and
labor for q few cents . day. Particularly
dangerous hides come from the East Indies,
Central America and Mexico When one of
cur own men, Samuel Now lhams, died some
years ago from blood poisoning, resulting
from handling hides. IL was said that he died
from arsenicai poisoning. This was wrong,
as tho amount of arsenic used IN curing
hide so chat insects can't eat It IL infinitesi-
NAL and could not harm any one The first
symptom OF blood poisoning from diseased
hide that appears In tho victim h q red spot
with hard white center, similar In appear
ance 70 the sting mark Of q bea After few
hours the affected part begins to swell rap
idly. and the disease speedily affects a con-
siderable portion Of the body. Handling
hides will continue to be a most dangerous
business until the men learn to take proper
precautions in their work. New York Sun.