Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-01-10
SLAUGHTER OF FOWLS.
A Difference Between Amateur and Pro
fessional Work-The Chicago Way.

A Difference Between Amateur and Pro
fessional Work-The Chicago Way.
Killing chicken is feat that few men
care to undertake second time. 1t Is
not half so easy as it looks. A man with
out experience may approach his victim
confidently, seize it by the neck with
wise like grip and swing it round his head
and shoulders until he is tired or until
poor 'chick" ceases to flop her wings or
wriggle her feet, and the chances are that
the half strangled bird will go cavorting
all over the back yard the instant 1t is
laid on the ground. It's slayer, tired and
sweaty and covered with dust and feath-
ers, chases it around circle, and finally,
after number of desperate plunges, re-
gains his grip on the limp but unbroken
neck.
"Take the ak and cut its head of,
john" suggests his wife, who has been
an interested but silent spectator of the
attempted slaughter. John acts upon the
advice with a promptness that proves
that he knows good thing. The ak is
procured, and again the wriggling bird Is
imprisoned. John carries it in triumph over
to block of wood, lays its neck out as
evenly as the muscular contortions of its
body and legs will permit, and then raises
the keen blade for the fatal blow. It de-
scends with unerring aim, and the severed
head rolls off the block. But before John
has time to congratulate himself on the
success of his expedient the head gives
one futter that Is its last, and tiny
stream of blood hardly bigger than darn
ing needle spurts from the gaping wound
like geyser, and stains his white shirt
front a deep red. Then he vows in lam
guage that will hardly bear reproduction
that he has killed his last chicken. If
the victim is an aged and tough hen with
steel spring neck and extraordinary
vitality the work of slaughter is even
more difficult. This is the way man
kills chicken intended for his own table.
Down in South Water street there are
fourteen chicken slaughter houses that
turn out an average Of about thirty
thousand dead birds every twenty four
hours The process Is simpler and more
rapid. There is an institution near the
corner of Clark street which alone Is
rate of 10000 day if the consumption Of
chicken meat warrants the wholesale
slaughter. The chickens are brought to
the place by thousands and turned loose
In immense coops that occupy whole
floors, and there they crow and cluck and
eat corn until the remorseless hand Of the
professional butcher closes on their necks.
When this happens there is no time for
another crow. The needle-like point Of
the Keen knife that the butcher carries In
his right hand is deftly inserted behind
the victims ear, and the next instant its
ifeless body is shooting through spout
that leads to the floor where the plump
ing" room is located It is all done In the
briefest part of a second, as will be moro
readily understood when it is stated that
this butcher, single handed and alone,
can stab 10000 chickens in day of ten
hours. It does not make any difference
to him whether the victim is spring
chicken or full fedged hen. One falls
as easily before the plunge of his knife %
the other
But it is in the ''plumping" room that
the hen has q chance to exhibit its vitality.
In one corner Of this apartment, which 1s
always half filed with wet feathers, is .
big iron tank full Of boiling water. Into
this the bodies Of the birds are thrown a.
fast as they fall from the butchers spout,
and after they have been there half .
minute they are hauled out by the legs
and stripped Of their feathers. This pro-
cess requires but two sweeps of a ham,
like hand, and the bird, denuded, u
flung into a cooling box. From there
they go downstairs to another cooler, and
then they are packed for Shipment
Chicago Herald.