The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-05-03
EQUINE ABATTOIR.
Where Horses Are Slaughtered for
Human Food.
The Practicers Of Hippophagy
Reside in Europe.

On the outskirts of Maspeth, Long
Island, stands a big frame building
which has a history of peculiar inter
est. Ramblers in the vicinity cannot
gain by an exterior inspection the
faintest sign of the use to which the
structure is put. 1t is known only to
few persons as the only place in the
United States where horses are slaugh-
tered for human food.
Henry Bosse, the proprietor of this
unique establishment, was born in Bel
gium in 1868. His father was q cell
ebrated butcher of that place and Mr..
Bosse learned the business in the pa
rental establishment. He reached
this country in 1886 and went to Chi
cago. He says:
My experience as sausage maker
had made me thoroughly acquainted
with the traffic in horse flesh. 1t oc-
cured to me that a great deal of
money could be made by exporting
the product from this country. 1 de-
termined to open horse abbattoir in
Chicago, and obtained the necessary
permit from the Board of Health. At
this point friend suggested that New
York presented better and more prof
ita bic field. He argued that | could
obtain superior and larger supply Of
animals there and that | would be
saved freight charges to the seaboard.
| followed this advice and in the fall
of 1889 began business in Maspeth,
which is just outside the Brooklyn city
limits.
"The original idea was to slaughter
the horses and make bolognas of their
meat for the export trade. The first
week / used up fifty carcasses in this
manner. There is duty of Is per
cent. on imported sausage in Belgium,
Spain, Italy, France and Norway. So
determined to abolish my sausage
making plant and ship the meat in
bulk, picked My business has grown
rapidly. now kill weekly from 200
to 800 horses and ship the entire
product to my foreign correspond
ents 1 can readily dispose of every
pound of it. Horse meat is never a
drug in the European market.
"Where do your supplies come
from?" he was asked.
"Consignments reach me from Phil
adelphia, Newark, Lancaster, Penn,
and, of course, New York and Brook
lyn. buy nothing but good health
ly horses Two veterinary surgeons
inspect all my stock.
''In Belgium horse meat forms the
chief concomitant of many of the del
icacies eaten by the wealthy classes.
The same thing may be said of France,
Italy and Norway. The sousanue du
Boulogne can be termed the national
dish of Belgium. 1t is jellied block
of minced horse meat weighing from
two to ten pounds merely wrapped IN
the fleece of the beef casing. 1t re-
tails at from 81 to 81. 20 per kilo two
pounds). Horse meat sausages are
much preferred in Belgium to those
made from beef or pork. While Bel
gium leads in the manufacture of horse
meat sausage, France consumes the
largest amount of fresh horse meat.
The Partisan, by some curious anoma-
ly, while he greatly enjoys a horse
steak, does not take very kindly to
the horse meat sausage"
"Do you believe that horse meat
will ever become an article Of food III
the United States?"
"It is hardly likely" said Mr.. Bosse
ESQ long as we have plentiful supply
of good beef and pork. Some time
ago couple of wealthy men wanted
to fit me up a stand in the Wallabout
Market, Brooklyn, to conduct the sale
of fresh horse meat. didn't see any
future in the scheme. However, l am
not an epicurian philanthropist seek
ing to cultivate the taste of the Ameri-
can people for the flesh of the horse.
have seen it served occasionally at
banquets in New York, but the purpose
was merely a d.-[New York Adver-
tiser.