Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-11
THEY SKIN 'EM ALIVE.
A Revolving Crime Against the Sheep
Perpetrated in Peru.
CRUEL AND HEARTLESS PEOPLE.
Tired Donkeys Stagger Under Burdens
Until They Fall Dead.
LOVE MAKING WITH A BRASS BAND

rcoRRLsPoNDEycE OF THE DIsPArcH.I
LIMA, PERU, Dec. Gin common with
other Spanish Americans the Peruvians
show 9 strange mixture OF gentleness and
cruelty, sentimentality and heartlessness.
They are excessively polite to the minutest
detail of an exaggerated etiquette. on all
occasions at home or abroad. Their voices
are low and musical, their vivacious
gestures and profound obelsances the per-
fection of grace. and their everyday man
ners such as Lord Chesterfield might have
envied.
1t lady-young or old, handsome or
hideous-comes into any public place where
gentlemen are congregated, instantly the
buzz of conversation ceases, every man rises
to his feet, takes off his hat and remains
standing until she has passed out or is
seated. When funeral procession goes by,
men in their carriages, in the horse cars, on
the streets and in the doorways or balconies
OF their houses, uncover and bow their heads;
and the same custom is observed whenever
the door of q church is passed. Their defer
ence to the aged, the obedience of adults to
their parents, their tenderness to the young
and their liberation of and charity toward
the vast army of beggars, are beautiful to
behold and worthy of emulation.
Beggars and Highwaymen.
They will put themselves to the greatest
amount OF trouble to serve stranger, with
out expectation of reward; their hospitality
is unbounded, their generosity proverbial
and for point of honor most of them will
lay down their lives. Yet the temporarily
reduced will resort to thousand polite pre-
texts to get money out of you, such, for ex-
ample, as dead friend who had recently
lost all his property and whose coffin must
be bought by subscription; won't you donate
$40 toward SO charitable an object? or a tale
of woe about poor widow and her children,
left penniless in the cold world, who are de-
sirous of going to their relatives in some
distant place; surely the sonora will be
happy to assist them? etc., etc.
myself subscribed small amounts from
time to time for dozens Of cofins and poor
widows with, weeping families, until I
learned the little game. Even the Peru
Wan highwayman will take off his hat to
you in the most deferential manner before
politely requesting your money or your life;
and If it comes to the unpleasant necessity
Of forcibly taking the latter in order to
secure the former. he will crave your pardon
while plunging his dagger into your vitals;
ance in death, and tarry long enough, at
whatever risk to himself, to not only bury
you decently, but to set up cross over your
grave, so that future passers-by may pause
to say prayers for your unshriven soul.
The Children Never Cry.
In all the months have remained in this
country / have never seen child whipped
and have scarcely heard one cry. The poor
omou0 than, 1avaa ruuaio and raa1rrv
flowers and sentimentality, more than his
daily meat and drink, yet vein of coldest
cruelty and utter heartlessness runs through
the best of them. This is evidenced in
many ways besides the bullfght, the cock
pit and their conduct in wan. Perhaps the
most common example is in their treatment
of donkeys. No tongue can tell what those
patient and tractable little creatures are
made to endure till merciful death at last
releases them from torment, overwork and
slow starvation.
Everywhere we see pitiable examples of
beasts bearing heavy burdens upon raw and
bleeding backs. which daily press deeper
and deeper into the fostering flesh until the
bone is laid bare, and still no attention is
paid to it, nor is the burden in any way
lightened. We see them with huge welts
criss-crossed along their backs and fanks,
raised by the merciless whip, which falls un-
ceasingly, whether the poor animals travel
fast OF slow. Some have their ears Topped
and broken by blows from cudgels, and
many have their nostrils slit up on each side
the nose, 30 that there may be 'no nom
sense" in the way of difficulty of breathing
and consequent loss of speed In the higher
attitudes.
Torture of the Donkeys.
The theory appears to prevail that dom
key can carry as much as can be piled upon
him, and they are generally covered from
head to tail with loads that bulge far out on
each side; or when carrying human freight,
two men, or couple of women, or three or
four boys bestride him at once When
hardly able to move, either from excessive
burdens or lack OF food, his energies are
stimulated as long as possible by twisting
his stub of raIl or his sensitive ears; or by
the boy who rides him, who selects nice
soft spot somewhere on the animals flank
or ore-shoulder and works away at it with
rusty nail or scrap of iron or tin, till the
hide is worn away, the raw flesh exposed
and bleeding, and then to continue nagging
the wound.
Not less to be pitied are the street car
mules and horses, which are beaten inces-
sanity DO matter how hard they pull or how
desperately they exert -themselves-lash,
lash, goes the long, heavy whip over their
suffering backs, up grade and down, from
dawn till midnight An extra man is hired
for the express purpose of whipping the AMI
mails, who stands beside the driver and ap-
pears to be the most industrious person in
Peru.
skinning Sheep Alive.
The most blood-curdlingly cruel thing that
has vet come under my observation is the
manner in which are obtained the so-called
"pig-skins" that so commonly serve for bot
ties and casks. They are not the hides of
pigs, but those of sheep, and, horrible to re-
/ late, are pulled off the living animal,
the poor sheep being actually skinned
/ alive, or more correctly speaking, skinned
yiye the operation. The modus operandi is
| as follows:
The beasts are driven, one by one, to the
| appointed place and firmly tied to q stake
| Then the hide is neatly cut around the neck
| and down the middle, without touching the
| flesh or severing the arteries or hurting the
| animal much; after which hooks are taste med
| into the loosened skin, rope being attached
| to each hook; strong men take firm grip on
the ropes and pull backward, pulling and
pulling, until the hide is torn off clean to
| the tail. It is said that during this frightful
| torture the cries OF the poor sheep are
| almost human in their expression Of agony,
and that the bloody, quivering mass some
| times lives several minutes. The only ex-
cuse for the barbarous practice is that the
skins are much more flexible and durabls
when thus taken of alive than when the
| animals are dead.
| A Youthful Lovers Signs.
| A Youthful army officer, who was intro
duced to our party by the resident consul,
has been exemplifying some of the traits ol