The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1892-09-08
TEN THOUSAND LEECHES LOOSE.
Hundreds of them Invade Tenement to
the Discomfort of the Occupants.

People in the Western Addition have
slept soundly for years in ignorance OF
| the fact that at any moment plague
worse than the locusts of Egypt might
come crawling into open windows and
under loosely hung doors-a plague OF
fierce blood-hungry leeches.
There is an extensive leech faTm at
i,125 Bush street, where 10000 Of the
repulsiye monsters are confined, await
ing purchasers. The farm is one OF
two in the United States, the other
being III New York, and there at times
so, 900 leeches squirm ceaselessly about.
over and through swamp muck. con.
stantlv searching for some hapless
animal that chance may have mired
down to furnish feast for the insatiate
annelid.
The leeches at the San Francisco
farm broke away the other night and
oyerspread the neishboring tenement
in very short time. Hundreds of
them crawled up the walls and tried
every window and crevice. But a
minority found their way into the
sleeping rooms-not more than a thou
sand-but even that number of snaky,
greenish-black, creepy worms sufficed
to terrify the occupants almost into
fits when they felt the eager suction of
the leeches, and awoke to find them
selves festooned with the ugly products
of the swampy ooze of Bordeaux.
The first to awaken was young
lady, and she was not long in ANNOUNCE
ing her distress and arousing her
fellow-occupantso of the house, only to
find that each of them had for room
companions from a score to hundreds
of the leeches.
Brooms were savagely piled in every
corner, and under every piece of furnit-
ure. Bed-clothing was. shaken and
closely examined. Leech bites were
dressed with soothing applications,
and after several hours of activity the
household again settled down to rest.
Next morning an examination of the
premises and those adjacent was made,
and when the leeon farm was discover
ed the secret was out, as well as the
leeches.
The worms are brought from France,
where about Bordeaux there are wide
areas of black, light ooze, in which
ieeches of the tiercest sort multiply un-
stinted. The ooze fairly heaves with
their writings at the season of the
year when they are most active, and
then one of the cruelest sights possible
may be seen.
Old horses. worn out in faithful
service, are driven into the marshes
and are soon covered with the hungry
leeches, which fasten to lips, eyelids,
nose, or any other tender part, and
hang on until glutted with the life
blood Of their victim, or until the
wretched horse weakens under the
drain and falls TO sufTocate in the slime
of the leech mOrasS.
When leeches are desired to send to
New York or San Francisco men are
hired whose poverty compels them to
accept any chance. The men walk
bare-legged into the borders of the
Ieech swamps and are immediately
covered by the repulsive crawleTs, but
before they can more than pierce the
skin of the men with their sharp semi
lunar teeth they are swept off into
| pouches, from which they are counted
! out into beds of wet moss and boxes
of their native ooze, embedded in
which they are transported safely any
| distance.
The large leeches, such as those OF
| Japan, which reach two feet in length
| are not in common use, nor are certain
| poisonous sorts, such as the small black
| leeches of Australia. The thick, fat
fierce eorms of Hungary, Sicily, and
France are preferred by practitioners
VINO use leeches, and it is from those
countries that the rest of the world is
supplied. The San Francisco leech
farm is formed by placing quantities
of the ooze of the Bordeaux swamps,
especially imported for the purpose, in
large boxes with tight covers. The
leeches bore about through the muck
until wanted for sale, when they are
counted out, washed. and disposed Of.
ready to bite any living thing and hang
on until they are swollen to eight or
ten times their ordinary size. Then
they drop off and lie dormant until as
similation shall have been finished and
hunger again arouses them. - SGn
Francisco Ern7H