The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-01-31
Killing Swine as an Art.

The system of killing and dressing
swine for the market in the Armours' es-
Enlistment, in Chicago, has attained the
acme of perfection. The pigs are uR-
loaded from the cars into the stock yards
which adjoin the slaughter house; from
here they are forced INTO a pen about
fifteen by twenty feet, packed in so tight
that they can scarcely move. A man is
standing in their midst who simply fast
ems a chain to the pigs hind foot; by
means of lever poor piggy is hoisted
into the air and dropped into trawley,
and there he IS left dangling in mid-air.
A big fat man, covered with blood from
head to foot, with one stroke of the
knife lets out its hearts blood. The pigs
are dragged out and struck at the rate of
one per minute. Scarcely have they
ceased their death struggles until they
are dropped into the tub of boiling water
a dozen at a time. Two men stand on
either side of the tub, and by means of
fys, similar to an old-fashioned cylinder
press, keep turning them over and over
to prevent them being scalded too much.
From here they are taken by a man
and run head first into the bristle ma
chine, which reminds one of street-car
scraper. 1t just requires about fifteen
seconds for the pig to pass through this
operation, and he comes out clean and
white minus his coat. The pig falls onto
a large oval-shaped laba, covered with
zinc, where scrapers remove what few
bristles remain. This is all done so
quickly that from the time the pig is
jerked out of the pen until he is disem-
boweled requires but two minutes.
The entrails are carried away in hand
barrows to another part of the building,
where every particle of useful material is
taken out In the alley way leading to
the cooling room there is one continual
string of dressed hogs passing along. In
fact, from the time the knife is stuck in
the pigs throat until he comes out at the
cooling room he is kept constantly in
motion, all the work being done by hand,
with the exception of the bristle ma
chine.
In the opposite wing of the building
from the pork house is the beef slaughter
pen. Ranged along the outside of the build
ing are thirty or forty narrow stalls, over
which young man walks, carrying a
small sledge. A sharp, quick blow on
the back of the head, and the bullock
sinks to the ground stunned. In this
way he passes from one stall to another,
until the end is reached. The gates at
the head of the stalls are then raised and
the bullock dragged into the slaughter
house, when another man with heavier
hammer goes along and administers the
coup de grace by three blows on the CEN
tire Of the forehead He in turn is fol-
lowed up by the butcher who does the
bleeding. The skinners then take hold,
one set removing the skin from the head,
while the others clean the legs and take
out the shank bones and hoofs A sim
gle slash with a big knife down the body,
and the carcass is ready to be hung up.
While the finishers are removing the hide
from the body with cleavers, another
man removes the entrails. Hardly has
the skin dropped to the floor, ere the
divider, with a strong, well-delivered
blow, divides the bullock into halves,
and it IS given start down the over
head railroad, on which it hangs by
wheel and pulley, and started for the
cooling room.
All this is done in far less time than it
takes to write it. The work never stops
and the flow of blood never ceases.
Every man and boy about the place is
kept on the jump to keep out of the way
of those who follow behind.-Nelo York
Dispdtek.