Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-08-16

slnughter-prn.
The slaughter of horses for mar
Ret began at Linnton. ten miles
north OF Portland. in an abattoir,
specially constructed tor the pur-
pose, and equipped with every
modern appliance for the thorough
and speedy metamorphosis OF a liv-
ing, kicking, breathing cayuse,
fresh from the range, into an arti-
Gle of food designed to take its
place alongside the finest products
OF the great establishments Of Chi
cago, Omaha and Kansas City.
The process OF butchering does
not differ in any essential particu-
lar from the methods employed in
any well-arranged abattoir, but it
Is a fact that the inauguration of
the work by the Western Packing
and Fertllizing company-that is
the name of the company which is
the pioneer of this enterprise in
the United States-was attended
by circumstances of careless disre.
gard of the comfort of the poor an
finals Oh their way from the bunch
grass regions of eastern Oregon
and Washington to the slaughter
house near Portland.
The first train.load of animals,
selected from lot of 5000 or 5000
already purchased from the promi.
nent stockmen of that region, ar
rived about a fortnight ago. 1t
was expected that the animals
would arrive Sunday, but it was
necessary to make the horses swim
the Columbia river at Umatilla,
where the train was taken, and
much trouble was experienced in
forcing the condemned animals
across. AS consequence they
did not arrive till a day later.
Meanwhile complaints had reached
Mr.. W. T. Shanahan, Correspond.
ing Secretary of the Oregon Hu.
name Society, that the horses had
been treated outrageously on their
railroad trip, and he went down to
the stockyards to investigate. His
report shows under what auspices
the butchering company has begun
its great work of finding market
for the useless horse, and gives a
hint of just the kind of material
used in the preparation of the food
product for the market. Says Mr..
Shanahan
Upon nearing the place, the
first thing noticed was span OF
stout horses dragging a dead cay.
use from one of the cars. Upon in.
vestigation, 1 found that the train
consisted of five cars, each car thir.
five feet long and about eight feet
wide. In these five cars 200 horses
had been packed, forty to the car,
one solid mass of horsehesh. Upon
further inspection, a sickening
sight met my view-dead animals
in every car, four in one single car.
In all l found twelve dead. They
had been crushed down in transit,
and unable to rise, on account Of
the crowded condition, were by a
painful and lingering process liter.
ally tramped to death. Some were
ruptured in frightful manner.
My attention was next directed
to little colt in a corner of cal
whose eyes had been crushed out
head skinned to the bone, body lac
Grated, and yet l was told that il
was still breathing when the trair
arrived. One other animal wa:
also alive, but unable to rise, and
past the requirements of food, it
had found friend in some one who
had cut its throat. thus ending its
miserable existence.
Il found two other horses in the
yard which were unable to travel
further, in a most pitiable condi
ton, bruised from head to foot
having been trampled upon in the
car miraculously escaping death,
They were too stiff and sore to lie
down, and yet almost too weak to
stand up, for they reeled from side
to side in pain and misery. One
of these was little more than a
skeleton. and yet was in the lot
from the shambles to be used as
food. Think of these 200 animals,
40 to each car, occupying space
where, with comfort, only Is should
have stood, transported hundreds
of miles without food or water,
jammed, jerked and bruised by
starting and handling the train,
terrified, crazed and fevered, and
upon arrival at Portland immedi-
ately unloaded and at once driven
to Linnton, a distance of ten miles,
where the butchers knife was to